Darkness Rising
by Darth Malleus
Summary: A short story after Two Galaxy's Saga. Three years have passed since the Chaos Wars. A time of peace has fallen, but that will soon change. Rogue Trader vessels are vanishing in Alliance space. An Inquisitor is dispatched, what she finds...
1. Prologue

_**Warhammer 40K**_

_**Star Wars**_

_**Darkness Rising**_

_**Prologue**_

**8AEC (After Extragalactic Contact)**

**Manda-Roon Merchant Route**

**Outer-rim Territories**

**Corusca**

The Manda-Roon Merchant Route was one of many smaller hyperlanes within the Corusca galaxy, a small lane between the outer-rim worlds of Manda and Roon. It was a lane stepped in history, most of which was dark. The region, with the ancient name _Cloak of the Sith _was where the last great Sith Empire was situated before its fall to the Old Galactic Republic. Even though the empire was long dead the route still had its dangers. For one it was difficult to navigate, the reason was unclear as even the navigators themselves found no traces of any warp tears. Another was that it was riff with pirates and failed revolutionaries. There were even rumours that a fleet of star destroyers from the remnant who had turned traitor during the Chaos Wars were currently hiding in the depths.

Joshua Sandria knew the history of this lane well. He had studied every detail while traversing the Terra-Denon wormhole and again as he began travelling from Denon down the eastern Hydian way. He considered himself well versed in the history of the sectors, he and his taskforce of trading ships were going to be here for a while.

Sighing he placed the datapad down on his mahogany desk and withdrew a cigar and match from his jacket pocket, as he lit it he thought of how he had gained this little patch in the middle of nowhere. There were a lot of families within the Imperium who had become rogue traders, some commanded but a single ship, sometimes a freighter or a heavily modified yacht. Others had whole fleets of modified freighters, transports and a few decommissioned warships.

The Sandria house had been rogue traders for a hundred years, started by his great grandfather, emperor rest his soul in a small rickety old freighter he dubbed the _Price of Success_. Now four generations later the family had a small taskforce of three brand new freighters and an ancient _Obsidian-class _Grand Cruiser, the _Legacy of Success_. He lit his cigar, blew out the match and took a long drag, sitting back on his leather chair and putting his feet on the table. He hadn't slept since he got to this galaxy, it would be nice to close his eyes for a few hours.

Here the warp was not as dangerous as in his galaxy, even with the second eye of terror sniffing around. Many scientists noticed that it was slowly falling in on itself, the warp here must be too pure for the taint to gain much of a foothold. Looking outside was safe and it was a beautiful sight, it reminded him of the aurora borealis on most liveable worlds, except it surrounded his taskforce, a flowing stream of beautiful and enticing colours, and the best part was not a single demonic entity in sight.

With that thought in mind he fell asleep only to be rudely awakened a few moments later by a sudden series of concussions, he fell out of his chair as an explosion rippled across the superstructure of his vessel, the superstructure began to grown from the pressure, several mahogany drawers and cases fell forward, some shattering against the royal red carpeted floor. Joshua dragged himself to his feet and looked outside of the view-screen. The warp seemed to dissipate around him, like his craft was being ripped from its fabric. Quickly he grabbed his long midnight blue trenchcoat and stormed out of his chambers. Running down the wide corridors of the officer's quarters and nearly diving into the newly installed turbolift.

The lift took him straight up to the command deck, where he exited in time to see that they had exited the Corusca warp and returned to real-space, he straightened out his clothes, which were a pair of black pants, a white buttoned shirt and an ankle length longcoat and stalked up towards his command throne "Report Mister Batista!" he yelled at his second in command, a tall, ex-Imperial Guardsmen with as many scars as an Ork.

"We are being dragged from the warp sir" Batista reported as Sandia took his seat "Serious damage to the sublight and warp engines, small explosions have knocked out three of the nine power conduits, and we've lost four of the twenty coolant systems!"

"What caused this?"

"It seems we were pulled out of the warp by some kind of intense gravity field sir" Batista explained "Scans show it was a strong as a planets"

"Impossible" Sandia growled "We're nowhere near a star system and there are no reports of stray bodies!"

"Contact" Mister Daverone, the ships auspex officer reported "Three unidentified marks, bearing one, three, nine, seven"

"Put it on screen" Joshua ordered and watched as another installed item, a holographic imager came to life in the centre of the command deck, showing the area of space where the unknown contacts were situated. He saw the long sleek form of an _Executer-class _Star Dreadnought, a nineteen kilometre long behemoth and the main flagship of the GFFA. Its long, sword like form was painted black instead of the pure white that most Alliance vessels were coloured and there were no markings of any kind on her, no insignias of what nation owned it, all he saw was the name of the starship located on its portside in large stark white letters.

The _Phoenix Shadow _

The others were a squadron of at least six much smaller vessels, in fact it was difficult to see them with the massive silhouette of their command ship, they were strange vessels too, at only around six hundred meters long they didn't look very formidable, and it featured a strange type of design with the hull split into two halves like the claw of a crab with a slopped command tower on its dorsal axis.

"Hail them" he ordered sharply.

For several minutes the communications serfs and servitors tried to hail the unknown force but no reply came and as the small taskforce closed in on the rogue traders fleet Joshua saw something that gave him cause for fear. The main turbolaser batteries on the star dreadnought were primed and aimed for his small force of freighters, before he could even order the main lance batteries brought online the _Phoenix Shadow _opened fire. A devastating barrage of emerald beams impacted off the lead freighter, the _Fortune Hunter_. Her void shields held for but a few moments before the overwhelming firepower pierced through, it took a few shots before a series of explosions hit the warp engines, causing a detonation which destroyed a full half of the kilometre long trader.

Looking at the remains of one of his ships with rapidly approaching dread the trader snapped back to reality and ordered the main batteries to be brought online against the enemy. But it was too late. The star dreadnought brought her full broadside to bear on the obsolete Grand Cruiser. Over two hundred turbolaser batteries and five hundred smaller guns opened fire before his could get into position. His crew were no strangers to violence but they had fought nothing more than the occasional band of Dark Eldar raiders. They weren't Imperial navy calibre.

--

**Terra**

**Sol System**

**Terra Galaxy**

**Three Weeks Later**

Two years had passed since the Chaos Wars, a year passed since the battle of Sol between the warriors of the Imperium of Man and the Necron menace of the Void-Dragon. After a year the capital of the Imperium began to look something like what she once was. The mountains of rubble had been cleared and skeletal superstructure dominated the skyline as new skyscrapers were being erected to replace the old. Architects and builders from across the galaxy had been brought in to help with the rebuilding effort, plans for incredible new cathedrals, towers and residential areas had been signed and approved, massive demolition and clearing vehicles covered the landscape and thousands of builders and labourers worked with vigour to repair and rebuild the sectors of the planet which had been subjugated to the Necron bombardment.

The Imperial palace herself had never been so alive in nearly ten millennia, three months after the battles end the Emperor declared it reopened as the centre of power, representatives from every branch of the Imperial hierarchy were present, from the ecclestriarchy to the Inquisition, from the space marines to the Imperial Guard. In the halls and corridors drenched with banners and tapestries hundreds of men and women worked for the betterment of the Imperium.

Robyn Vallace, Inquisitor, walked serenely down the now well lit corridors, admiring the ancient tapestries representing every important moment in the history of the Imperium of Man, from her rise to the Great Crusade, to the Horus heresy and the dark ages that followed. Along with these works of art were banners and flags representing every major world, every Space Marine chapter and every regiment of the Imperial Guard who had distinguished themselves in the dark ages past.

There were few places in the two galaxies that soothed Robyn's heart every time she walked through their hallowed walls. Only a handful was worth mentioning and they had nothing on this place. She inhaled the sweet scent of incense that the priests daily released into the conditioning systems and sighed, completely relaxed even though the atmosphere around her was hectic. Finally she reached her destination, a huge set of oak doors with the Imperial double eagle carved exquisitely into the wooden surface. Taking a deep breath she nodded thanks to the two golden armoured Custodian Guards as they pushed the doors open for her and allowed her to enter.

The chamber she entered had just been made the new Terran headquarters for the Inquisition in the Segmentum Solar. It was in fact not a chamber at all but a collection of offices and waiting rooms. The black forms of Inquisitors walked down the corridors and passages, carapace armoured forms of at least thirty Storm Troopers guarded every entrance alongside warriors who comprised of Inquisitor retinues. She walked through the main lobby, looking down to see the Inquisition emblem cut into the grey tiled floor, she stood there for a moment, admiring the stone walls adorned with portraits of the finest Inquisitors in history, from Gidean Ravenor to his mentor Gregor Eisenhorn. Glass cases held weapons used by the Inquisition throughout history, from the power-swords to bolt pistols.

With a sigh she snapped her focus back to reality and walked through the lobby to the main corridor leading to the offices of the Master Inquisitor and his Lords. She didn't know why the former high lord needed her presence. She was just the chosen Inquisitor to be the envoy between the Inquisition and the Jedi order. In fact she was on her way to a meeting with the newly formed Grand Masters Council to discuss their findings on the second eye of terror when she received the call. She quickly told the high council that she could not attend, hastily apologising before ordering her ship to change course to the Terra-Denon wormhole.

She stalked up to the main double doors of the Master Inquisitor and rapped on the engraved wood. The door opened with a creek and the Inquisitor straightened, checking her suit one last time before entering. The chambers of the Master were well furnished, a carpet of royal red covered the floor, portraits of ancient battles and former Master Inquisitors adorned the walls alongside weapon cases, filing cabinets and a drinks cabinet. The Master sat behind a well made oak desk, the legs taking the form of space marines on a knee, holding up the wood like it weighed several tons. Beside the Master Inquisitor was a handful of Lords, bedecked in formal black robes and glimmering armoured suits. One of those present was her mental, William Silvermaine, the old man grinned when she entered and moved to meet her.

"Ah my child" he greeted happily, embracing his former student tightly "I hope the Jedi haven't been pampering you to much"

"They have taken good care of me master" Robyn replied with a grin of her own, returning the embrace, it had been so long since she saw him.

"Prepare yourself, Robyn" Silvermaine whispered into her ear "Something is happening in the Corusca galaxy"

Her blood ran cold then "Why? What's wrong?"

"Robyn Vallace" the Master Inquisitor's voice boomed through the chamber, making her flinch involuntarily, her mentor looked worried, but gave her arm a reassuring squeeze before letting go and taking his place by his students side "We are gaining reports from Corusca that aren't very welcoming"

"What do you mean my lord?"

"Several Rogue Trader vessels and fleets have begun vanishing on the Alliances borders. These vessels are too many in number and too well armoured for this too be the work of the galaxies pirates. A few of my advisors have expressed belief that it is the work of Alliance corsairs"

"It is not my lord" Robyn replied "The Alliance does not use such tactics, especially when trading with our rogues would do nothing but benefit them as much as us, plus the Alliance does not employ such things as corsairs"

"That is what I thought" he replied with a nod "Others think it could be a pirate fleet of Chaos who have hid themselves in the sector, or one of the Imperial traitor fleets who escaped their failed coup of the Imperial Remnant…it could even be a corsair fleet from Saim-Han"

"Imperial revolutionaries possibly, a Chaos pirate force almost definitely" Robyn thought out loud. But the chances of it being Saim-Han were unlikely, the Alliance had recently given them amnesty and they wouldn't break the treaty and betray the GFFA, last she heard they were in Bothan Space "Tell me my lord, are these attacks taking place near or in the Bothan sector?"

"No, they are further east, in a small trade route…through a region called The Cloak of the Sith" the Master replied "Robyn Vallace, I have called you here because I want you to carry out an investigation into this set of disappearances, use whatever means you need to but find out who is ambushing our traders!"

--

**Manda-Roon Merchant Route**

**Outer-rim Territories**

**Corusca**

**Three Weeks Earlier**

Blood covered the floor, a long trail which started outside the corridor, through the main chamber and ended just before the table. Above the desk was a three meter wide symbol of the Imperial double eagle. And on this insignia, his hands bolted to the silver emblem and his feet hanging free was the crucified form of Joshua Sandia, thin trickles of blood ran down from his hands, his dead eyes as wide as dinner plates and a burnt hole through his chest. All around the ship was a similar story. His crew and family were all dead on the floor, limb's severed and blood pooling

Sitting on his leather chair, rocking backwards and forwards was the slender form of a young woman, a beautiful woman with pale ashen skin and long blonde hair with white highlights. Her body was clad in a type of body covering leather, showing her curves and cleavage quite prominently, her arms and hands were covered by long baggy sleeves which stretched down a few inches past her fingers, on a loose black belt was a curved black hilt with silver markings decorating its surface.

"My, my" she cooed, rocking back and forth on the leather chair like it was a cradle, examining a cigar in one hand and a bottle of bourbon in the other. In one smooth motion she pulled herself from the chair and took a handful of delicate steps, stretching out her long legs as she walked "Expensive cigars" she muttered as she put it between her teeth and lit a match, she took a deep drag before blowing it out again "A hundred year old whiskey" she added again as she examined the bottle before throwing it nonchalantly over her shoulder, waiting only for the bottle to break against the floor and the contents to pool out "These traders really live high and mighty don't they?"

"This was not necessary" the other figure said severely, he wore but a long black pair of robes, the hood up over his head, hiding the top half of his face in shadow.

"Sure it was" she replied, slowly twirling around, her long flowing hair following her like the coil of a snake "If we were ever stopped then we had to make this ship look like it was attacked by someone other than us…hmm say Chaos for instance. Maybe we should decorate the hull with the bodies"

"Enough Freya" he scowled, a pair of sickly yellow eyes shining from the shadows for but a moment "Sometimes I wonder if you are a servant of Chaos"

"Don't insult me" she said threateningly "Peace is a lie, there is only passion" she slowly stalked forward, her green orbs turning a feral yellow "Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power my chains are broken"

"The force shall free me" the hooded figure finished.

"When you become a servant of Chaos you are forever placed in chains" she growled "Through the force, I am free"

"The force has its own chains Freya" the man replied as he turned towards a wall and touched it "They're just far more slack" with that he phased through the wall, leaving the woman alone.

**While I was listening to some Naruto music I downloaded I gained a great idea. This is not the sequel to the Two Galaxy's Saga. This is but an interim, a story set between them. Oh and through an idea the epilogue of my last story may be changed or another epilogue added on showing a different future, it all depends on how this story pans out. **

**To all those who read and enjoyed my Two Galaxy's Saga, I hope you enjoy this!**


	2. Nightmares & Visions

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Nightmares & Visions**_

**Jedi Temple**

**Ossus**

Alana awoke with a strangled cry, sitting bolt upright on her bed and gasping for a breath of air. She put her hand to her chest to try and soothe her pacing heart and found to her discomfort that she had broke out into a cold sweet. As her breathing slowly returned to normal the young Jedi put her face in her hands.

The dreams were becoming more vivid now and more frequent, almost to the point where she was afraid to close her eyes out of fear of her seeing it again. Were the Emperor and his saints playing a bad joke on her or was the force deciding to take an off day?

It was always the same, she would be running down a long corridor made of black stone, small glow lamps dimly lighting the way before her. She would continue until she came to a chamber, what she saw always terrified her. Bodies covered the floor, some torn into chunks like they'd been ripped apart. Several of the bodies bared the insignia of the Inquisition.

Then she would see it and everything else would just vanish, the body of a feminine figure lying on the floor, a familiar form of a bolt pistol just a few inches from her outstretched hand. Slowly Alana would advance to the body, her pulse slowly building into a rapid race as she would approach. Every time hoping, begging, almost screaming for it not to be her. Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her.

She reached down and pushed the body onto its back. Her heart would sink at the sight. The first thing she would notice was the mess of black hair which flowed across the back of her head, then she would notice the pale skin, the smooth features and then the most terrifying thing of all, the purple eyes, wide as dinner plates and as deep as a bottomless pool, completely lifeless.

Then she would wake up.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead Alana got up out of bed and hastily put on a pair of brown robes before moving out the door, being as quiet as possible to not disturb her roommate. She walked down the cavernous, now empty corridors of the residential block, pulling her robes tightly around her body to escape the chill. Finally she came to the towering balcony and leaned against the rails. Watching the great forests of Ossus, the towering conifer trees and dense green foliage, she sighed happily as she perked up her ears to hear the calls of alien birds and nocturnal animals.

"You're stealth abilities stink" Alana jumped and spun around to see her roommate wandering up towards her, wearing the same brown robes over her nightgown.

"Sorry Cha" she apologised hastily. Chaadara Ji, a young Togruta woman who was saved from slavery by the Jedi. She was a full head taller than Alana with rich red skin with white patches around her black eyes. At first Alana had been a little unsettled by Ji. She had been born and raised in an Imperial household after all. But as time went by she came to trust and love her like a sister, after all she was the first to welcome her to the academy.

"You've been having nightmares again, haven't you?" Chadaara asked worriedly as she leaned on the railings next to her companion.

Alana nodded.

Cha sighed "Why don't you go to one of the masters? Get it checked out or suppressed. Honestly Alana you've been having these nightmares on and off for over a month now, your white as a sheet, there are bags under your eyes and you've lost weight"

"I just feel like this is important" Alana whispered "That if I ignore this or ask one of the masters to block it then I will be letting people walk to their deaths"

"Saving people it good" Cha agreed as she pushed herself off the railing and starred into her friends eyes "But if you kill yourself in the process-" she stopped when she saw the look in Alana's eyes as she gazed upon the forests beyond the temple compound, her eyes were slightly dazed, as if she had seen a great horror and was trying to hide it. Sighing the Togruta looped her arm around her friends waist and guided her back into the temple "I'm right here Alana. If you feel burdened just know that"

"I know" Alana replied, looking up and flashing a brave smile "Thank you"

--

**Coruscant **

**The Senate District**

It had been nearly a decade since the Yuuzhan Vong had ravaged it surface, turning the great city world into swaths of alien forests, but after nearly a decade of reconstruction and purging it was almost there. Coruscant began to gain some of its glimmer again. Huge swaths of rebuilt city had been cut back from the forest, at the monstrous alien jungles edge were construction and demolition droids standing storeys tall, forcing the forests ever back so that the rebuilding of the centre of the galaxy could continue.

One of the first sectors to be rebuilt was the centre of government, the Senate District where the senate itself was sited. The new building was so much like the old, a massive domed structure big enough to house over a hundred thousand senators, their delegations and the senates own guard of nearly ten thousand men. Also within this sector were massive living towers where the on-planet delegations lived and worked. The military headquarters for both the navy and the armed forces was also situated in this sector. And it was here that she needed to go.

She walked up the wide stone steps with ease. Around her were her retinue of agents, her own personal elite teams of soldiers and warriors. Not in nearly two decades had she seen it necessary to assemble all three of them in one place for one mission.

Walking alongside her was Michelle Keys, her bodyguard. A young woman who had been in the Adeptus Sororitas until Robyn chose her to be her right hand. She was fairly slimmer and less muscular than her brethren with slightly messy shoulder length white hair, blue eyes and fair skin, a thin scar started on her right cheek, through the bridge of her nose and onward to her left cheek. She wore a modified form of power armour, crimson with embroidered gold and silver, and holstered to her belt was the form of a Sororitas bolter, a smaller variant of the space marine's weapon, a combat knife and duo of specially crafted bolt pistols.

Lara Chrysler flanked her right. She was very attractive with an hour glass shaped body, impressive bust and enticing thighs. Her skin was pale, her eyes were a beautiful shade of hazel, and her hair was chocolate brown and tied in a long ponytail. She wore a skin tight body glove of dull black leather with a flak jacket and loose belts hanging from her waist, containing a holstered laspistol and an array of throwing needles.

Finally was the agent whom Silvermaine assigned to her when she became an Inquisitor. Marcus Von Rosenberg. A tall man at nearly six foot, he wore a long leather trench-coat of dark red with a wide rimmed dark red leather hat on his head of thick raven black hair. A pair of amber coloured, round sunglasses lay perched on his nose. Within his coat was a long handgun, specially made for him and too heavy for any of his fellows to use. He flanked her left but remained a few steps behind Lara.

Swiftly she finished the flight of steps that took her from her assigned landing pad to the main building. An impressive blade shaped structure which stretched up nearly twenty storeys. She was surprised to meet a welcoming party, an entire battalion of Alliance marines stood at attention in files fifty across and ten deep. Their blaster rifles held solidly against their shoulders. Walking up the royal red carpet was the familiar form of Halos, dressed in his flawless white Grand Admirals uniform with gold embroidering and knee high black boots. He remained the same man she met over the battlefield of Scorpio with his cut black hair and rugged features. Flanking him were two Alliance marines, majors by the badges on their shoulders.

He came up to her and held out his hand, a grin on his face "Inquisitor Vallace, to what do we owe the honour"

Robyn smiled and shook his outstretched hand "Business I am afraid my old friend" she replied "There was really no need for such a reception"

Joseph shrugged "This lot are far too lazy, I'd take any excuse to get them back to parade ground form" he then extended his hand to her "We should take this to more secure quarters"

She nodded and hooked her arm around his, allowing him to guide her down the tenth floor lobby and into the main corridor. Robyn allowed herself to be led by him as she looked around and surveyed the gleaming silver corridors, the Alliance were so much blander when it came to military buildings. There were no tapestries, no portraits or encased weapons, no way of showing their history. She was thankful when she finally entered the Grand Admirals quarters and found that it had personality.

The floor was done in a royal blue carpet, the walls were painted a relaxing mocha colour, bookcases and filing cabinets adorned the walls as well as a few weapon cases and paintings. One caught her eye, an epic scaled painting portraying a fleet of ancient _Venator _Star Destroyers advancing on a planet, a fleet of Trade Federation cruisers exploding from the cloud covered lower atmosphere to surprise them.

"You like Inquisitor" Joseph asked.

"The colours are used superbly"

"It's a depiction of the battle of Boz Pita" Halos explained "The Republic expected an easy fight but were surprised by a fleet of Confederacy dreadnoughts. Although the Republic won the battle it was at a heavy price. I keep it as a reminder to never underestimate ones opponent"

As well as the exquisitely decorated walls Robyn noticed a large oak desk set out before a massive armoured glass window, showing the rebuilt city world in its splendour. A large leather chair stood out on one side with another two on the other. A large glass table covered the centre with the insignia of the Galactic Alliance displayed on its surface. Robyn's cadre remained near the exit of the Grand Admirals quarters, not wishing to explore any further, from here on it was the job of their master.

"So Inquisitor" Halos started, taking his seat and motioning for her to do the same "To what do I owe this visit"

"Like I said before my friend, business" Robyn replied as she declined a drink from one of his aides, Halos did the same "We have been losing traders in the eastern outer-rim"

"I have heard" Joseph replied "The senate are debating on the matter, I and Grand Admiral Daala have put it forward to send a taskforce to investigate. We have also been losing ships in the Cloak of the Sith, just last week a fleet of five Trade Union transports and their escort vanished without a trace"

The Trade Union was a fairly new enterprise, with the losses the Alliance gained in the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Chaos Wars and now the mopping up operations their military didn't have the capacity to keep their supply lines running, so they helped to create the Trade Union. The Union itself was an alliance of small trading organisations, they had already gained several important trade rights by the senate and the military and an act was even passed for them to have their own defence forces against Chaos pirates and the like.

"So even the Union is losing ships" Robyn surmised before sighing "I am asking that we be allowed military access to your territories so that we of the Inquisition can start our own investigation into the matters unfolding"

"Wasn't that covered by the Treaty of Kuat last year" the admiral asked.

"Yes but I need to run it by an official in order to do so and I loath asking the Chief of State or his council, they take too bloody long"

"Amen" Halos agreed with a smile "I can't give you full access to our territories without adding on an observer"

"I prefer to keep away from bureaucrat's sir" Robyn replied mildly.

"There is another kind of observer that the senate will agree too" Halos said as he raised his hands "For instance if you can convince the Jedi to loan one of their teams then I could legally give it the go-ahead"

"Aren't the Jedi stretched thin at the moment" Robyn asked "If their not fighting in the space still controlled by Chaos they are helping in rebuilding efforts or settling diplomatic disputes"

"I hear from an old friend that his team is free" Halos replied "But knowing him it wont be for long"

"Thank you" Robyn said with a smile, rising from her chair she turning to her cadre "Could you excuse us for a few moments"

Robyn waited for her retinue to file out of the chamber before turning back to Halos, who had risen from his chair and was walking around his table to her. The two stayed just an arms length away from each other. It all happened in the blink of an eye, Robyn jumped into Josephs arms and he kissed her passionately. The Inquisitor, her eyes closed, enjoyed the experience, savouring his lust and passion. When the two finally parted they were short of breath.

"Missed you" he whispered softly into her ear, causing her to sigh happily.

"I know" she replied, burrowing her head into his chest and savouring his smell "I'm three days ahead of schedule"

"And your cadre" Joseph asked as he pulled away, wiping her black bangs from her face.

"I told them that I had diplomatic business with the resident Jedi Council and did not need any protection" she smiled that serene smile "I'm all yours"

"I think I can squeeze you in Inquisitor Vallace" he replied with a smirk and silenced any retort with another kiss.

--

**Unknown Location**

The chamber was dark and dank with only simple fire-lit torches for light. Ancient statues of dead lords towered up to just a few meters from the ceiling, their gazes starring straight down to the route between them and the two figures stalking through. In the flickering shadows of the statues were the silhouettes of robed figures, watching them from the darkness.

Freya skipped happily along the path, completely uncaring to the piercing stares she gained from the enshrouded guardsmen or the penetrating gazes of the long dead Sith lords. She was right at home in the darkness of the temple, she had felt a kinship with it since she was brought in, dying and half mad from the daemons that tormented her. Freya hailed from Bakura and was one of the civilians who opted to stay behind to help the soldiers and to be near her husband.

_A month into the conflict the battalion she was stationed with was attacked by a Chaos war-band. All of the soldiers had been killed including her husband and she, alongside other non-combatants had been taken prisoner. For months she had been suspended in a cage, humiliated, degraded and raped by Cultists. She watched with dulling dread as others were taken away for sport or too be sacrificed to the accursed dark gods._

_The first time she noticed she was a forceling was in a moment of pure hate, it was during one of their 'sessions' with her. A pair of Cultists who were using her to pass the time, they ripped the rags from her body and attempted to rape her, laughing at her and hitting her every time she tried to resist. She wanted them dead, she wanted to make them regret every sin they had committed and pay it back a thousand fold._

_Then it happened, she didn't know how or why, but she raised her hand as he loomed over her and a surge of raw lightning escaped her grasp. It struck him head on and sent the ugly, mutated shit flying, crashing against the wall, still screaming as the lightning burned his body and the impact snapped his spine. The other had drawn a knife, screaming threats at her in a language she didn't know. He lunged at her, knife stabbing frantically, she reached out her hand and let the knife sink in between her knuckles, breaking through the skin and bone before exiting as a blood covered blade. She closed her fist around the knife and looked into his maniacal eyes. She saw fear grip his heart and rotting soul. _

_She saw it in his eyes, a perfect reflection, a woman whose face, covered in dirt and caked blood was contorted into a feral snarl, her dead pool eyes changing colour to a sickly yellow. She liked it. She controlled the power perfectly. Fire ran along her hand onto the knife, following the trail as if his body was slick with a flammable liquid. He went up in flames, screaming in pain and fear as the flames cleansed him from the world. She fell to her knees and cried, slowly rolling up into a ball as everything that happened to her crashed into her mind. She found a corner and waited for more of the savage monsters to come, see what she had done and finally put her out of her misery. _

_The door opened but a Cultist did not walk through it. A man dressed in black robes did. She heard the gunshots and explosions of battle beyond, men screaming and yelling as they fought and died. He approached her and she shied away, thinking that it was just those monsters killing the prisoners. He grabbed her hand and forced her too her feet, he leaned in close and whispered into her ear._

"_Do you hate them child? Do you fear them? Do you want to make them suffer? Do you want the daemons to go away?"_

_She did not answer at first "Yes"_

"_I can make the daemons go away. I can train you and hone your power so that they will never hurt you again. Well? Will you take it?"_

She did take it and never looked back. She had been a dead being living in a shell during her captivity, with no purpose or loyalty, just her hate and grief to keep her company, then to a certain degree her insanity. Her master and the Sith gave her purpose, they gave her a reason to continue to exist.

Finally she came to the base of a set of ancient steps, leading up to a throne made of black stone. Sitting on this throne was her master, who raised his hand and beckoned them to stand.

"Well?" he asked.

"The mission is a success my lord" her partner reported "We have drawn their attention here"

"Excellent" he replied "Send word to our troops to prepare for some unwanted guests"

"Yes my lord"

"My Dark Jedi" he stated, his voice rising "Come before me"

There was a rush of wind and a blur of motion, and another eleven silhouettes appeared from the shadows. The thirteen dark forcelings of her master had assembled, each one trained under his tutelage to become a warrior true to the Sith creed, a warrior whose goal to change and strengthen the galaxy was set firmly in their minds.

"The time of our resurrection draws near and we must be ready to show the Alliance and the Imperium that we are not to be trifled with!"


	3. The Observers

_**Chapter 2**_

_**The Observers**_

**Low Orbit**

**Ossus**

Ossus was once a thriving planet with its own unique wildlife and ecosystem. It was the site of one of the Jedi orders earliest conclaves and through millennia became the largest, bustling with the apprentices and knights of the old order. That all changed when Exar Kun and his reborn Brotherhood of the Sith detonated a star, causing a shockwave which struck the planet, causing a mass cataclysm. It was one of the major battles of the Old Sith War.

The planet slowly began to recover and four thousand years later the New Jedi Order settled on Ossus, using the planet as the position of their central temple. During the Yuuzhan Vong war the planet was outside of the alien menaces invasion path, but the Vong occasionally visited to learn more about the Jedi, who were a thorn in their side. Near the end of the war a small group of Shapers decided to terraform the planet from its barren form to one of beauty, it was one of the only good things that the warlike aliens had done.

Now avian creatures sang in lush forests, great swaths of savannah held massive herds of alien animals and packs of predators, the indigenous human population, who were forcelings, lived in protective conclaves. And finally the Jedi orders grand temple, the central conclave stood out tall and proud.

The main structure was hourglass shaped, with a block for the base attached to an inverted pyramid. Smaller structures were erected including living quarters for the apprentices, knights and masters, duelling arenas and exercise areas for training as the number of students grew. During the Chaos Wars other structures, mostly military, were constructed. A barracks for the planets detachment of Antarian Rangers, anti-air guns dotted the perimeter, a hanger bay and landing pads for starships, visitor and Jedi alike, and finally a shield generator which could create a protective bubble around the conclave and surrounding forest.

Robyn starred at the fast approaching grounds and immediately felt guilty. She hadn't visited in months, her missions and diplomatic situation dragging her from place to place. This was one of the only places in this galaxy where she felt safe and at peace, a place of learning, where young ones studied and grew in mind and body. She looked to the east, where somewhere beyond the snow covered mountains stood the ruins of the Great Jedi Library of the old order, abandoned for four thousand years and considered sacred ground to all forcelings. She had been privileged enough to see plans for restoration of the old grounds into a new library.

"Approach vector set" she heard her pilot say from the cockpit "Landing bay nineteen approved"

--

Lara Chrysler studied the outside as she descended the landing ramp, searching for anything that could be remotely hostile to her employer. Robyn was strong willed and courageous, self sacrificing and assertive. These were the traits which made her an Inquisitor, but in the assassins mind she trusted these fleeting forcelings too much for her own good.

Shestarted her life as a bounty hunter on Necromundus, bringing in murderers and heretics, dead or alive, since she was sixteen years old and since joining the Inquisition had seen true evil, fought it and bested it. She had conquered her fears and doubts a long time ago. Now she was Lara Chrysler, ex-mercenary, Inquisition agent, assassin, the master of needles and a damn good shot with a pistol.

She stopped when she saw the hooded figure waiting for them at the edge of the landing platform, itsmasculin form and the way it held itself told her it was male, humanoid. The Jedi walked forward, bowed before her master and pulled back the hood of her grey robes. He was fairly human in appearance but his skin was a light grey with dark obsidian eyes, a small crown of horns covered the top half of his head.

"Inquisitor Vallace" he asked.

"Yes"

He bowed "I am Knight Eman Lok, I have been asked to escort you to the council chambers"

Robyn was surprised. She did not expect Luke Skywalker to gather a council so quickly, and especially considering most of the members were spread across the galaxy. She knew that at least three were in the Chaos infested Juvex and Sevex sectors, leading troops against the Arch-enemy.

Without a word the Zabrak Jedi turned and walked down the stone steps of the landing platform, the Inquisitor and her retinue following suit. Robyn watched as they entered the main grounds of the sanctuary. Wide open spaces greeted her between the beautifully built buildings. Wide pathways of stone covered the grounds with vast gardens of trees, grass and bushes with stone benches. Jedi, Antarian Rangers and a host of others wandered around the grounds, all with their own place to be.

She saw Marcus tense and followed his stare. A trio of Eldar Rangers lay under the shelter of a mature Ossus oak tree, lazily letting the day pass by them. Robyn wasn't surprised, many Eldar wanderers had come to Ossus over the years to rest without any worry for 'She who Thirsts'. Apparently Jedi conclaves were becoming a favourite rest spot for them, and the fact that the Jedi welcomed them made it appear more appealing.

Robyn simply continued walking, hoping her agents would do the same and followed the young Jedi through the main pathway towards the temple. As they entered the main gates Robyn turned to her cadre and began shoeing them away.

"I need to speak with the High council, so until I call for you your free to explore" she explained "Just don't cause any trouble"

--

Luke Skywalker clasped his hands together in front of him and watched as the masters of the new Jedi High Council conversed about present events. Most of the new council were made up off his own order as the immortals and the resurrected (Ronin) did not wish to intrude on the affairs of another generation. The only Ronin who choose to remain was Master Yoda, and only as an advisor. The diminutive little master sat in the backless chair beside Luke, his eyes closed and his face relaxed.

At the moment they were listening to reports on the mopping up operations in the Juvex and Senex sectors, the key battlegrounds of the Remnant War. Chaos had been well entrenched and ousting them was proving more difficult than the Alliance had anticipated. In the last year the Alliance had slowly pushed them back, retaking key worlds like Sullust and the Neimoidian purse-worlds. At the front of this counterattack were High Jedi Masters Kyp Durron, Streen and Kyle Katarn, all of whom were present as holograms.

"At the moment the Alliance High Command have given the go ahead for a full assault on Senex Prime" Katarn reported, his holographic image flickering every few moments from distortion "The Supreme Commander is in complete agreement and is mobilising four full fleet squadrons and nearly ten divisions for the first push"

"He has asked the Jedi to assist through battle-meditation to help coordinate the strike" Streen added "We have your leave?"

"You have my leave" Luke answered with a nod "Now on to other business, the problem taking place in the Manda-Roon Merchant Route, we have gained reports of several Imperial trading fleets disappearing, and now a taskforce from the Trade Union has vanished"

"I have gained word that the Imperium is taking a special interest in this and are sending an Inquisitor" Gabriel Sabbath said "Grand Admiral Halos has informed me that Inquisitor Vallace has been despatched and that she requires a Jedi observer"

"We are stretched thin at the moment" Corran Horn pointed out "And any Jedi here either are teachers or they are on leave to rest"

"The Inquisitor is already here" Mara-Jade stated "I sensed her a half hour ago and sent a guide"

"When will she be here?"

"Now" Yoda whispered. The large double doors of the council chambers opened with a creak and the lithe form of the Inquisitor walked calmly into the chambers, the Jedi who was escorting her remained outside the door, waiting patiently for her. She stood before the council of twelve and bowed deeply and respectfully.

"Inquisitor Vallace" Luke Skywalker greeted "Welcome back"

"Thank you Master Skywalker" Robyn replied with a smile "I'm afraid that I'm here on business for the Inquisition and Imperium"

"Yes, of course" Luke said "We have already heard of the trouble in the Eastern Outer-rim"

"We dispatched a team there a week ago after the Trade Union merchants vanished, but haven't heard from them yet"

"When was the last time you heard from them" Robyn asked.

"Three days ago"

"Have you been able to contact them?"

"I'm afraid not"

Robyn mentally cursed, that could have settled her problem right then and there.

"However" Gabriel spoke up "I and my team are on leave at the moment, we would be happy to escort you and help you with your investigations"

"Thank you master Sabbath" Robyn said, this was why she liked the Jedi. They could take care of any mess quickly while the Senate and the Chief of State would have taken a week. She sensed from her limited psychic ability that they had agreed because of the missing team however.

"Tell me who's missing?"

The council looked up at her in unison, many in surprise, a few frowned but Luke managed a weak smile before speaking "The team was made of three young ones, just made Jedi in last year's graduation. Their names are Delani Hun, Alic Rune, Damien Gilger and my niece Jaina Solo"

No wonder the order seemed so worried about this small team, three young knights would have been mourned, and a search would have been made. But this was different. This was one of the Skywalker clan who had gone missing, one of the shining stars of her generation.

"We can leave whenever Master Sabbath's team is ready" Robyn said reassuringly "We will find your missing team as well as solve who is behind this group of pirate raids. I swear it in the name of the Emperor himself!"

--

Marcus Von Rosenberg, agent of his Imperial majesties Inquisition felt out of place within the cavernous corridors of this Jedi temple. He had never been inside a temple before, let alone met a Jedi at all until now. He was surprised. He expected something similar to the Inquisition. Instead he saw droves of young ones between four and fifteen wandering through the corridors, some were human while many others weren't, and it made him feel even more uncomfortable.

During his life all of his meetings with non-humans were through simple 'to the death' combat. Here he needed to keep his instincts under control, the Imperium was on good terms with the Alliance, and an agent of the Inquisition suddenly gunning down a dozen young aliens in cold blood would undoubtedly blow a hole in the diplomatic talks.

He entered a chamber and found what looked like a training arena, mats covered the floor, and the walls were covered with cases carrying weapons including training sabres and line after line of training droids. Marcus heard about how the Alliance used artificial intelligence, protocol droids, astromechs for their starfighters, and battle-droids to a lesser extent. It felt like a completely alien world to him.

There were Jedi in the arena, at least six dualists facing each other in lightsabre duels. For a while the agent just stood and watched as the three battles went back and forth, the duellists executing flawless somersaults and acrobatic feats, the blades of their lightsabres a blur of beautiful colours as they clashed against each other with a symphony of crackles and snaps, hails of sparks following each collision.

Watching the fights fold out the agent found a bench, sat down, picked out a cigar from inside his coat and lit it with a match. It was then that he noticed the duel taking place to his far left. It wasn't the combatants themselves who caught his eye. It was the weapons they were using. One, a blonde girl in her early twenties wielded an emerald bladed lightsabre, that wasn't surprising. But the other, a lithe woman with white hair was wielding a pair of witchblades, favourite weapons of the Eldar.

He concentrated on the skirmish, his specially augmented crimson eyes magnifying to the point where it seemed he was standing right beside them. The blonde haired girl was definitely a human, with a body defined by training regiments and taxing missions giving her a slender and healthy aura, her face was sharp and beautiful with deep emerald eyes, her most prominent feature were a set of three scars which ran across her forehead.

Then he paid his attention to the other combatant, she too was dressed in a simple brown tunic and trousers but she was lither than the other one and a full head taller. Her hair was long and free flowing, a beautiful white with eyes of pure violet, skin as pale as snow and a streamlined body and face honed by years of combat and training. She was the Eldar he had heard so much about, the Jedi orders own little pet.

The Rogue Farseer, Ishta Taldeer.

--

Ishta weaved her blades in an intricate pattern, twirling effortlessly as if it were second nature to her. Her strikes were smooth and precise, simple and elegant, quick and deadly in a combat situation. Her opponent was a young woman, Tahiri Veila, one of the most promising young knights in the Jedi order, and she showed it with the ease in which she moved to keep up with the older warrior. It had been six months since she came to her and asked for training, she had been badly injured in the closing stages of the Chaos Wars and it was only by luck and a squad of Space Marines that she survived.

Ishta had several such students. She was considered one of the best non-forceling instructors in the entire order. Her experience and skill with bladed weapons caught the eye of the Grand Jedi Master and now she was teaching young Jedi how to face the growing dangers in the galaxy today. Tahiri was one of her best students, she learned quickly and was eager to know how she could improve. Ishta took but a moment to examine the small golden ring on her finger and hid a small smile, so the young resurrected had finally proposed had he?

"The ring" she said as she weaved her blades as one, deflecting several thrusts from her student "He finally proposed?"

Tahiri smiled as she back-stepped, spinning her lightsabre in her hands to deflect the Eldar's intricate counterattack "Yes"

"Congratulations" Ishta whispered as she locked blades with the young Jedi, pushing with all her might to gain the upper hand "It's about time"

The human blushed, batted away the blades and went on the attack with smooth, flowing cuts and thrusts, keeping her teacher on the offensive. A stroke was deflected by the liquid silver blade. She sidestepped the other as it came down and forced herself to skid to the side. She had improved a lot since she started but she was still no where near good enough. If Anakin hadn't saved her on the _Planet Killer _then she would have died in that nightmare.

"You have improved" Ishta commented.

"Thank you master"

"But there is one problem" Ishta moved like a flash of lightning, falling to the ground and lashing out with her right leg, taking the humans feet out from under her, as she hit the training mat the Farseer was on her, straddling her shoulders with her legs and placing her two blades in a scissor across her neck "You still need to learn to use more than your lightsabre in a fight. It is a powerful weapon but not the only one in your arsenal"

"The force"

"Among other things" Ishta said as she got up and offered the Jedi her hand "The force is a powerful ally, your lightsabre is a powerful and influential tool…but you have other weapons, your feet, your hands, your arms, your knees, your elbows, your brain, your whole body if used properly is a weapon in and of itself"

An echoing set of claps interrupted the blazing lightsabres, and student and teacher turned around to see its source. A tall man was walking towards them, his hands, covered by white gloves with the insignia of the Ordo Xenos imprinted on their backs clapped together, causing the echo. He wore a long dark red trench-coat with a wide rimmed hat of a similar colour, under the coat was a buttoned up black suit with a white shirt and dark red tie, a pair of amber coloured sunglasses covered his eyes.

"Well said my lady" he said "Well said"

"And you are" Ishta asked with raised eyebrows.

"Forgive me" he said with a Cheshire cats grin, taking off his hat and putting it against his chest as he bowed "I am Marcus Von Rosenberg. An agent of his Royal Imperial Majesties Holy Inquisition, Ordo Xenos branch, under the command of Inquisitor Robyn Vallace"

"I knew she had more agents than the battle-sister" Ishta mused before turning to her student "Thank you Tahiri, you are improving but let's end it for today"

"Yes master" Tahiri replied, bowing before turning to leave, but her eyes were set on Marcus's worriedly, as if she had an insight to an insidious goal. She was suddenly stopped by an invisible force, like she walked into an unseen wall.

"There is no need to dismiss your student" the agent said "This won't take long"

"What do you want from me" she asked, the girl was perceptive.

"I wish to duel you lady Farseer" he said as he approached "It has been such a long time since I have had a descent opponent and I am in need of some sport"

Tahiri activated her lightsabre then, only to have the blade ripped from her grasp and tossed beyond her reach. The situation became noticed to the other Jedi as they stopped their duels to look upon this situation. In a swift motion Marcus placed his hat back on his head and reached into his coat with his right hand, retracting four throwing knives, long bladed weapons with black clothed hilts and no guards.

Ishta redrew her witchblades in an instant and braced herself. She sensed his power now, like a whirlwind of barely contained energy. He was a powerful psyker, beyond the strongest common level, his very presence brought a sudden chill to the air and the Eldar could see her own breath as she exhaled, the air became heavy, attempting to weigh her down. She countered it, letting her own considerable warp powers ebb from their restraining seal.

Tahiri felt it, as if the warp had gained a foothold and was drowning out the well of force energy which permeated the room just a few moments before, it felt as if the immaterium was trying to cut its way through to the materium. Only a High Jedi Master or an Immortal could stand up to this type of released power.

"That's quite enough Marcus" the voice was angry and absolute, leaving no room for excuses or understanding "What are you doing!?"

"My lady" Marcus greeted, tipping his hat "I was just having a little fun"

The Inquisitor continued to stalk towards them, passing by tense Jedi as she went. Beside her were two men, wearing the brown robes of the Jedi order. One stood out of the two, a middle-aged human. The power he sensed was extreme, trained and honed to a near knife edge. He had short light brown hair that may have once been blonde with piercing ice blue eyes and tanned skin. He wore a sash of gold across his left shoulder, a symbol of the Grand Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order.

Luke Skywalker

"A new objective has been added to the mission" Robyn said "We are to investigate the Manda-Roon Merchant Route and find the pirates responsible, but we are also to search for a team of Jedi who were sent to investigate ahead of us"

"I see" Marcus replied before adding "Have they been heard from?"

"Not in three days"

--

**Unknown Location**

The pain was sharp, causing her to awaken from her blissful unconsciousness with a shrill gasp. A dark and dank nightmare greeted her, a dungeon of black stone walls with chains and shackles adorning them like obscene trophies. Many of these shackles looked like they had been in use for a long time for they were rusted and caked with several layers of dried blood. The floor was made of rough black stone, similar to the material in the walls and likewise covered in blood.

The shock-staff which woke her stabbed into her side again, causing a surge of electricity to course through her veins. She gritted her teeth, trying to smother a cry of pain. A pale hand grabbed a handful of brandy hair and pulled roughly, forcing her face up to meet that of her tormentor. He was an Eldar with pale white skin covered in thin scars, his eyes were a dark maniacal crimson, and his lips were adorned in a wide grin. He wore a set of black carapace armour with dark red fatigues underneath.

"So my little toy is awake" he asked, she responded by spitting in his face and was met with a slap, his talon like fingernails leaving bloody scratches along her cheek. He grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her to look into his eyes "Feisty" he whispered, wiping the spit from his face with his free hand "Let's see how long that lasts"

"Who are…you" Jaina managed through a sudden bout of coughs, the shock-staff plunged into her side again, and this time she did cry out.

"Where are my manners" he grinned, taking a step back and bowed mockingly "I am Homunculus Draden Darkfinger, a rogue under the employ of powerful individuals"

"Powerful…individuals" Jaina repeated before a glint of fluttering robes caught her eye, and a wave of dark emotions slammed into her mind. She turned her head to see a being dressed in black robes starring at her, a pair of sickly yellow eyes glowing from the shadows of its hood "No" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes" the Homunculus chided "My employer is the Darkling Jedi, and you my little Jedi dog were in the wrong place at the wrong time"


	4. Forbidden Knowledge

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Forbidden Knowledge**_

**I do not own Star Wars or Warhammer 40K, they are owned by Lucas Arts and Games Workshop.**

**Jedi Temple**

**Ossus**

"There is more information that I need to tell you" Robyn began as she set her cup of caf down on the glass table. Both Luke and Mara-Jade sat across from her on a comfortable looking sofa, the Inquisitor herself had chosen an armchair.

The Skywalker's quarters were located within the upper levels of the main Jedi temple, as where all of the High Jedi Council. This floor was where they, their families and their apprentices lived. Each room was an open space with the living room in the centre and a kitchen to the right, separated by a bar, above was the second floor where the bedrooms were situated. The walls were mostly glass panels showing the outside world, the conclave and the beautiful forests beyond.

"Not long ago one of our patrols found a freighter belonging to one of the lost traders" she pulled out a datapad, inputted a few commands and handed it to the masters "What we found was most distressing"

The pictures showed them the horrors which took place. The bodies were strewn up on razor wire, hands stretched out to see ripped open stomachs and cartilage. The faces were set in expressions of horror and extreme pain, adding weight to the opinion that they were still alive when this horror began. Other pictures showed blood smeared on bulkheads, depicting symbols of the Chaos gods and anti-emperor graffiti.

"Obviously our first thoughts were that this was the work of a Chaos warband" she explained, gaining nods from the masters, she saw that the pictures had gotten through. Mara-Jade, once a ruthless assassin in the employ of a fascist emperor had gone as white as a sheet. The Grand Master himself looked up worriedly to the upper level, not wanting his three year old daughter to chance upon seeing the photos.

"We sent word for a Psyker to check for any residual warp energy and to perform a cleansing exorcism" she continued "However he did not find any residual energy, as if the warp hadn't been tapped into at all. He did find that there had been power used, but of the Materium"

"The force" Luke asked, gaining a nod from the Inquisitor.

"Indeed" Robyn replied "We found that the force had been used but it was distorted, dark, corrupted. We think that a group of dark forcelings have been working in the region, and tried to throw any investigation off their trail by making it look like a Chaos incursion"

"You wish to know if we had clashed with any powerful dark forceling cults or orders" Mara stated, gaining a nod from the Inquisitor.

"Do you remember the battle of Saim-Hann Inquisitor?" Luke asked.

"The Craftworld was attacked by a large fleet of Dark Eldar. They stumbled across the Jedi taskforce and in the battle that followed the darklings were scattered and beaten"

"That was the official report" Luke explained "However what we kept hidden was that the Dark Eldar were not working alone, there was a contingent of Dark Jedi among them, led by a Sith Lord, Dark Lady Lumiya"

"You did not tell us this?" Robyn asked tautly.

"We considered it our problem at the time" Mara sent back "But when the Chaos War ended and we found time to send teams to hunt her we found nothing, it was like she and her acolytes simply vanished"

"Another reason why we kept it secret was that our nephew had betrayed the Jedi and joined with her" Luke finished.

That was news as well, official records had stated that Jacen Solo had gone missing in action, not betrayed the Jedi and joined their sworn enemy. With this information Robyn could see why they had done what they did. One of the most promising young Jedi in the order joining the Sith would have been a major blow to the moral of not just the Jedi but the Galactic Alliance as well.

"I want everything you have on Lumiya and her allies" Robyn stated "Battle reports, fighting style, history, presumed military strength, everything"

------

"I'm going with you"

Gabriel stopped tying his boots and looked up, Ishta stood tall and proud, arms folded and face set in a grim line. He sighed as he finished tying his boots. What that Psyker did had obviously left her a little shaken.

"What about the kids" he said as he rose "We can't leave them on their own"

"I've already asked Gabrielle" Ishta cut him off "She's more than happy to look after them while we're away"

Gabriel sighed and made sure that his twin sister, halfway across the conclave felt his annoyance at her. Ishta stepped forward so that they're faces were mere millimetres apart "I don't trust that damn Psyker Robyn has"

"Ishta come on" Gabriel pleaded as he tried to take a step back, she kept up with him "Its not like I'm going to be alone here, my team is going too"

Ishta snorted softly, something very unbecoming for an Eldar "A bunch of rookies"

"Technically Anakin's not a rookie" Gabriel replied. Anakin Solo, one of the resurrected who appeared near the end of the Chaos War, he was one of only a few who stayed with the order instead of becoming a wanderer. His status as a hero of the Alliance during the Yuuzhan Vong Wars was well documented, as were his skill with a lightsabre and his power with the force.

"I'm still coming Gabriel" Ishta replied, using her hand to poke his chest "Who will watch your back? Who's going to get you out of trouble when you and Alana throw yourselves headlong into trouble, who-"

Gabriel sighed again. Ever since she had given birth to the twins she refused to be copped up in their quarters all day. She had put herself through a fierce training regiment to get her back into shape and when she wasn't looking after the twins she was meditating, exercising or well, with him. He forced himself out of his daze when he found his wife was still talking.

"Alright, alright" he conceded, pecking her on the nose before walking past her "We lift off from the main hanger at eight tomorrow morning. I'll tell Gabrielle to pick up the twins"

"No need" Ishta said, smiling at his questioning look "I called her a little while ago"

Gabriel frowned "You already called her, and you hadn't even conferred with me yet"

Ishta shrugged, a mischievous look on her face, in a smooth motion she was before him, rapping her slender arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss "I knew I'd get my way, you cave in way too easily"

------

"What were you thinking!?"

Marcus didn't have time to react as the hand flew up and smacked him in the back of the head, he ducked forward from the blow, his wide rimmed sombrero falling from his head to the ground. He growled and fixed Lara with a withering stare, which she ignored.

"What did she say!?"

"Eh?" Marcus grunted as he bent down to pick up his hat, the assassin kicked him in the rear, causing him to stumble forward a few steps. A few Padawans watched the event and jogged past, giggling.

"What did she say!?" Lara repeated angrily "Don't cause any trouble!"

"Fine" Marcus grumbled as he placed his hat back on his head "It wasn't like I was going to kill their little pet, I was just looking for a sparring partner"

"By releasing your warp inhibitor to its highest setting" Lara growled back.

Marcus ignored her. The Warp Inhibitor was a new piece of technology that the Adeptus Mechanicus created with the aide of the Ordo Malleus branch of the Inquisition. It was a small device implanted into the body of a Psyker whose level exceeded Gamma to stop warp manifestations and daemonic possession. It also locked away the Psykers power to a fifth of what it was, until the release took effect.

"I didn't release it" the Psyker replied nonchalantly, tipping his hat down over his eyes "I need my masters permission, remember"

Lara grumbled something incoherent but said nothing else. The psyker smiled, Lara was one of only a few people who could talk to him like that, he had a soft spot for her considering that they had fought side by side for nearly a full decade and formed a warriors bond. They had saved each other time after time again, to the point that they forgot how many times.

"So when are we set to go?" Marcus asked, changing the subject.

"Eight tomorrow morning" Lara replied with a pout "Apparently the head honcho around here thinks it'd be easier to enter the sector if we used a small freighter"

"A sensible plan" Marcus agreed "If we enter the sector in that Cruiser she commandeered then our quarry would have run"

"Apparently he made a call to an old friend" she replied "His brother-in-law's going to be our pilot and our master has a message for you"

"What?"

"Try anything and I'll have your balls cut off" Lara recited with a grin.

Marcus grimaced, knowing that his employer was more than capable of carrying out her threat.

------

"Just remember this Inquisitor" Luke stated "What you are about to see is restricted to all but master-class Jedi"

Robyn nodded, she had been led from the upper levels of the main temple to the underground levels, the area which was known among the Jedi for holding ancient knowledge which were not officially part of the archives.

As they descended into the lowest levels the Inquisitor noticed that the brightly lit corridors gave way to lowly lit corridors, cracked walls which suggested that the area bellow was made of the ruins of the original temple. Eventually the three came to a huge set of double doors, made of solid rock. Two YVH Battle-Droids stood guard at the entrance, their lithe mechanical bodies forever tense and ready for action.

Luke stopped and clicked his fingers, releasing but a spark of his own force sensitivity. The doors opened with a creek, dust fell from the tops of the doors as they opened and stopped with a mild thump of stone against stone. Wordlessly Luke walked into the chamber beyond, Robyn and Mara followed.

Within the chamber the Inquisitor felt the air get heavier, there was a darkness here which weighed down upon her. On the walls were cases of ancient armour and weapons, helms, gauntlets, swords, axes, scythes, lightsabre hilts. She noticed a round amulet of solid gold with red rubies and white crystals etched in, a gold chain was attached to it.

"Don't touch it Inquisitor" Luke's voice was firm and commanding "The dead spirit of its creator dwells within, no one knows who he is other than he was one of the oldest known Sith lords"

"This amulet belonged to a Sith?"

"All of these artefacts belonged to the Sith" Luke answered "Many had been touched by their dark alchemy, once worn or wielded they enhance the dark side of the force for the user"

The Inquisitor quickly retracted her hand and covered herself with her cloak. She followed the Jedi masters with renewed haste, feeling the temperature drop by a few degrees. They came to another door, this one was newer, a blast door of solid durasteel with a small conduit etched into the stone wall. Luke inputted a six digit password into the console, placed his hand on a DNA register and waited as his identity was confirmed and the doors slid up out of sight.

The room within was a small store with a holo-table at its centre, large cases adorned the walls, full of ancient weapons and books of past orders. Luke walked to the back of the chamber where a single case stood, it contents were small pyramid shaped objects. Robyn felt consciousnesses within, a disembodied spirit. She felt her blood go cold.

Luke inputted another three digit password into the case and let it open with a click, he extracted the central object and closed the case behind him "This is a Holocron" he explained as he set it on the table "It is a machine which allows a forceling teacher to place a piece of his or her spirit within, this spirit acts like a guide for the generations to come"

"You already know that we use such devises, it is one of the main ways we preserve our history" Mara continued "The Sith have been known for using them as well, much of their darkest knowledge is enclosed within the three holocrons in our possession"

"If you wish to know about the Sith then it would be best to ask them" Luke said "But be warned, never use such a devise unless under the supervision of a High Master"

She nodded her understanding and waited for Skywalker to activate the device. Eerily its four sides opened like a maturing flower, a blinding white light erupted from within and a small six centimetre high figure flickered to life. She was lithe and beautiful, dressed in a body hugging black jumpsuit. Her skin was a light brown with long thick curly black hair.

"I am Githany, Dark Lady of the Sith. Listen to me carefully for what I am about to teach you is-" she stopped and looked at those in attendance, particularly Luke and Mara before growling with contempt "Oh, it's just you"

"Do you really think I'd let you or your brethren anywhere near my students" Luke asked with a raised brow before turning to Robyn "Ask your questions Inquisitor"

"What about the other two" Robyn asked.

"Githany is considered a small fry, the last of a weakening Sith order" Mara explained, ignoring the insults the six centimetre tall spirit was uttering "The other two hold Darth Malak and Darth Ruin. Believe me Inquisitor, they are much worse"

The Inquisitor nodded before straightening and stepping forward, bringing the holograms attention to her "I am Robyn Vallace of the Imperial Inquisition"

"Inquisition" Githany scoffed "Never heard of them"

"And you will never have to" Robyn replied in a clipped tone "I require information on the Sith order. What are your goals? What are your ideals? What are your motivations?"

"Our goals" Githany chided "They are simple. The galaxy is weak, ruled by corrupt bureaucrats and beings so set in their ideals that to try and bring change is meaningless. We of the Sith want to burn this galaxy and build a strong, solidified, united galaxy in its wake. That is our purpose"

"You speak of uniting the galaxy" Luke began "But what good is a united galaxy when there will be no one left to see this future. When those who remain are ruled by fear and depression, scared to voice their opinion for fear of reprisal"

"You Jedi are so set in your old ways, so unbending, it was the very taboos and rules that you made which made up my mind to leave your order and join the Sith"

"Enough" Robyn stated "This is not a debate on philosophies, I have come here to learn why your kind, or something like your kind have started high jacking trading vessels in the Eastern outer-rim, in an area known as the Cloak of the Sith"

"That is simple" Githany berated "The Cloak is where the New Sith Empire hid and grew when the rest of the galaxy thought of us as a bad dream. We remained there, grew in strength and numbers, and bided our time until we knew it was the time to strike. Think about it girl, that region is where Sith Empires had been rising since two millennia before I was conceived, it is a message, deliberate or accidental that we have returned"

"How do you know it's your kind?"

"I have sensed it. I may be a remnant of my old self but I can still feel the currents of the force. An old being has awakened, one whose power in the force is absolute. Dark forcelings are converging to him like water filtering to a pool" the spectre held up her hand, raising a finger "I give you this warning Inquisitor because you interest me. The way of the Sith has changed since my day, my lovers Rule of Two may soon come to an end, but some rules will survive. Deception and trickery are our tools and we are very good at using them. We will remain in the shadows, strike from the shadows and when you least suspect it, when your defences are weakened and your moral is nonexistent, then we will strike. We shall strike, and you will die"

With that she flickered and vanished, the holocron closed up and became just another lifeless object in a chamber of artefacts.

**------**

Gabriel frowned and checked his wrist chrono again. Ishta was by his side with an impatient look set on her face. The Inquisitor was late. His team had already assembled and were waiting on a cluster of metal crates. Alana sat on one, watching her legs slowly swing back and forth out of boredom, Chadaara Ji sat on the crate next to her and elbowed the blonde to bring her back to reality, and Anakin Solo leaned against the same crate, half asleep by the looks of it. Then there were the three Inquisition agents, the Battle-Sister, the very curvaceous assassin and the tall, lean Psyker.

Finally Robyn entered the hanger, followed by the Grand Jedi Master and two others. One was a middle-aged man with a rugged appearance. He had black hair laced with grey and wore black pants, a white tunic and a black jacket. The woman standing beside him may have been a decade younger with long chocolate brown hair and a very slender figure, hidden behind a flowing pair of Jedi robes.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting" Robyn apologised "But I needed to get some things straightened out with our pilot" she turned to the two individuals hanging back "I present to you the legendary smuggler Han Solo and his wife, Leia Organa-Solo. They will be our pilot and navigator during the mission"

"Dad" Anakin started "What are you doing. I said I'll handle it"

"And I say no" Han retorted "Jaina's my daughter, I am not leaving her out there"

"Do you two know each other" Michelle asked.

"Their father and son" Gabriel whispered.

"Ah, I can see the resemblance now"

"You two can argue about this when we're in orbit" Robyn muttered as she walked past them towards one of the newer freighters which covered the hanger.

"Ah lady" Han spoke up "Where are you going?"

"To the freighter of course"

"Then your going the wrong way" Han replied, pointing towards a far more run down and rickety starship, it was disc shaped with the cockpit located in an arm to the right. Its entire form was covered in carbon scoring and quick repairs, making the Inquisitor wonder if it was even space worthy "That's my ship there"

"You're kidding right"

"Nope"

Leia gave her husband a knowing look before turning to the Inquisitor "Don't worry, it's a hunk of junk, but it's been tried and tested through the worst"

"What are you calling hunk of junk"

**Writers Note**

**To anyone who hasn't noticed, a fellow writer called **_**RJ Whakamol**_** has published his/her own work on the Two Galaxy's Saga, so an extra piece of writing for you to sink your teeth into. His ideas are brilliant and one hundred percent approved by yours truly. So give him your support, and too anyone else who wants to write a story set in the crossover, you have my support but just send me a message on the idea so I can approve it and if you want to kill any of my characters you need my permission.**


	5. Ambush at Roon

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Ambush at Roon**_

**Unknown Location**

**Cloak of the Sith Region**

Archon Dragonfang stalked down the chamber, a squad of his Incubi guards at his heel as he entered the main chamber of the ancient temple, barely giving the black robed Sith Guards enough time to open the great stone doors. As he entered and stalked down the centre of the chamber he ignored the massive stone statues of past Sith lords and the legion of black robed guards watching him from the shadows.

He stopped before the throne, not intimidated by the sickly yellow eyes starring at him. He knew that this Sith did not like any interruptions, which was why he did it. It was to show them that while he was the leader of their little alliance, he did not control the Archon or his warriors.

He cast sidelong glances upon the two guards flanking the lords throne. Both were considered powerful Dark Jedi, this unnamed lords two most promising students in the dark arts. Freya Darkclaw stood to his left, clad in her long sleeved battle-dress with light armour, her lightsabre hilt remained clipped to her waist. The other was Jaser Lee, a male human who was tall and lean, wearing a suit of light black armour and a long pole shaped hilt strapped across his back, too date the Archon did not know what type of weapon it was. Both starred at the Archon, sickly yellow eyes measuring him.

"Archon Dragonfang" the lord greeted coldly "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"You should know why" the Archon sneered back "The Imperium sent an Inquisitor, the Mon'Kiegh filth are getting far too close to us for my liking"

"Are they know" the Dark One asked, feigning innocence.

"We need to evacuate and move to a different location" the Archon snarled.

"Not necessary" the lord replied, waving his hand dismissively "Freya my child, gather a handful of operatives, go to Roon and eliminate them"

The blonde haired human smirked, bowed majestically and vanished in a blur of motion.

------

**Roon**

**Manda-Roon Trading Route**

They had been in hyperspace for a week now and slowly everyone got used to the cramped spaces of the little freighter. The Jedi and their Farseer were in the central chamber, either meditating or keeping busy with a type of force training game. Lara and Michelle were busy playing a game of Sabaac. Han, Leia and Robyn were in the cockpit.

Marcus sensed that they had reached Roon long before Han Solo announced their arrival over the com. He had been in a trance since an hour before, his mind leaving his body and wondering through the masses of the planets cities, one city in particular was Roon City, the capital of the planet. He entered peoples minds, heard their thoughts, their conditions, for but a fraction of a second he became them.

I am Talori Yun, a Twi'lek dancer, dancing in the local cantina for a crowd of traders, saving up money for a transport back home. I am Kest Loo, a Muun smuggler, relaxing and having a drink as I watch a beautiful Twi'lek dance on stage. I am Janise Dorn, a human doctor, doing my rounds in ward nine of Roon general hospital. I am a bird, free. I am Hura Delunn, a Zabrak messenger, buried alive, three kilometres away from the city limits. I do not know my name, I do not know who I am or where I'm from, all I care about is where I get my next Death stick.

Marcus forced himself back from his search, snarling in disgust as the effects of the drug left his mind. He took a deep breath, cleared his thoughts of any lingering effects and restarted his search for his target. He continued his search, passing through thousands of minds, thousands of humans and aliens, doctors, architects, labourers, soldiers, teachers, shopkeepers, students.

Finally he found an interesting target, one which may have the information that his master required. I am Lister Durr, the planets crime boss for the Black Sun crime syndicate.

'_Master'_

'_Yes Marcus'_

'_I have found a target'_

-------

A terrestrial planet Roon was a world of forests, savannahs and oceans. It was a central trading planet, one of the main points of the trading corridor, but the planet also exported precious Roonstones, flame jewels and spices. Its close proximity to Ryloth gave it a large population of Twi'leks, but more than half of its six hundred thousand plus inhabitants were human.

Roon city was a three kilometre expanse of dwellings, offices and landing pads. Its current population was roughly two hundred thousand sentients. Its main purpose was a spaceport town, scattered across its expanse were landing pads and hanger bays.

As the _Millennium Falcon _hovered over the city to its assigned landing bay they were unaware that they were being watched. A group of four individuals starred at the landing starship from the rooftops. Freya Darkclaw was one of them. She watched the vessel closely, probing the interior with the force as she did a dozen others in search of their unwanted guests.

"That's the one" she stated.

"Then lets take it out" the augmented voice of Rak Loon growled. The Kel Dor was always impatient. It was one of the reasons why he was still a low ranking initiate among the thirteen.

"We don't want to alert them to our presence you fool" Phex Lokk retorted sharply, his two mandibles extending from his otherwise human features. The Anzati always looked at the analytical side of things, which was good on a mission, but completely boring otherwise.

"The both of you shut up" Larsi Pullo snarled. The Twi'lek female was always one whom Freya got along with. The two of them had such similar tastes in how they did their jobs, and their histories were so similar.

"Yes" Freya agreed with a mad smile "You're both giving me a headache, do you remember the last person to give me a headache?"

The two gulped audibly, the last one to give her a headache had conveniently lost his head to her lightsabre quick draw. They both settled down, mumbling a yes mistress as they did so. Larsi flashed a wicked smile her way.

"Get moving and tell our Darkling friends to get in position" she ordered, pulling out a set of binoculars and checking to see the landing ramp of the old starship begin to descend "Tell them to not move until I give the signal"

The three of them kneeled, mumbled agreement and vanished in a blur. The sudden movement caused a gust of wind, making the Dark lady's battle-dress billow in the current. She withdrew her lightsabre and began flipping it into the air, catching it with ease.

-------

Solo had done business with this man during his smuggling career and was the likely negotiator. His guards would be Marcus and the Togruta, Chadaara. The others were split into two man cells. Gabriel and Michelle, Lara and the younger Solo and finally Alana and Robyn, these three teams would take up positions in the main street and on the rooftops in case anything went wrong. Ishta and Leia had been asked, nicely, to guard the _Millennium Falcon _from any retaliation.

Marcus assured her that this man definitely knew the location of the missing Jedi, and that finding them would find those responsible for the increased pirate activity in the sector. It made sense. But the whole scenario seemed just a little too easy for the Inquisitor. The crime lord would be guarded, but a few street thugs and mercenaries didn't have a prayer against battle hardened Inquisition agents and fully trained Jedi.

It was evening, around 1800 hours. The streets surrounding the cantina were hosting a trading festival, stalls held food, drink, spices, jewels, clothes, precious stones, even weapons from across the sector. Because of this the streets and alleys were crowded with hundreds of pedestrians from dozens of different races.

Robyn and Alana sat on a flat roof of the building across from the cantina, an office block four stories high. Lara and Anakin were below, lost in the crowd but still with a good enough vantage point on the entrance. She didn't know where the other two were but sensed they were close.

"Two guards at the door" Robyn said, looking through a pair of binoculars "A Rodian and a Human, wearing long coats, guessing they have hold-out blasters hidden under them"

"Mm" was the young girls only answer. Robyn's eyes darted to her compatriot. She seemed troubled by something. It seemed only yesterday when she first met Alana, a young girl of twelve who had lost her family during the Battle of Scorpios. The two of them had spent some time together and even though she hadn't seen Alana in nearly a year she could still tell when she was troubled.

"It seems a little lax, I expected more guards"

"Mm"

"By the Emperor, a Chaos god has just taken form over the city!"

"Mm"

"Alana"

The young girl stirred, looking up at the Inquisitor "Yes"

"You seem to be troubled"

"Is it that obvious?"

"The dead would notice" Robyn replied, letting go of the binoculars "What is wrong?"

"Nothing, I've just been having bad dreams"

"Visions" Robyn corrected, she knew it, this was how Alana always got after an episode "I thought the masters had scryed them from your mind"

"They did, but I still get really strong ones from time to time" Alana replied, fidgeting nervously.

"So what was it about?"

"Nothing" Alana replied, she couldn't bear to tell Robyn that she was going to die, she would do something before that happened.

"Alana" Robyn said firmly "If it's something important tell me"

"Really it's nothing"

The comlink bleeped before Robyn could press any further, she gave Alana a 'this isn't over' look and thumbed it on "Yes"

"Everyone is in position my lady" Michelle's voice echoed "By your command"

"Begin then" Robyn said before thumbing it off and bringing up her binoculars in time to see Solo and his guards wander casually into the cantina, it was all up to them now.

------

The cantina was like anyone of a million bars across the galaxy. Its walls were covered with plush leather sofas and chairs with black round tables. A long bar stretched up its centre with almost every drink and beverage this side of the galaxy. At the back was a stage where a Bith band played a hypnotic melody, a troupe of four Twi'lek dancers moved to the tune, their beautiful forms dancing flawlessly and seductively. It was quite busy, there may be fifty or sixty patrons scattered across the room, drinking and letting the days torments bleed away.

For Han Solo this reminded him of when he was just a smuggler working for the highest bidder, not a hero of the Rebellion, not the husband of a princess, not a General for the Galactic Alliance, just a smuggler with a blaster and his best friend by his side. But things had changed. Chewbacca, his best friend was dead, and he had left this life behind long ago.

He scanned the cantina. Marcus was standing beside the bar, blending in with a large Wookiee to his left and a small, tubby Sullustan to his right. Chadaara was halfway down the bar from him, flirting with a young human to look natural. Checking one last time the ex-smuggler wandered through the bar towards his target.

Lister Durr was an old creature, a Falleen male who had very little influence outside of the sector. Han knew this because he worked for the old goat a few years before he met Luke. He smuggled Roonstones for him through the backdoor hyperlane known as the Death Wind Corridor. Even though he hadn't seen the crime boss in nearly two decades Durr recognised him immediately.

"Solo? Is that you?" Durr asked, standing up. His compatriots, a large Gamorrean dressed in scoffed armour and a wiry Nautolan remained seated.

"Long time no see Durr" Solo greeted, accepting the man's hand and sitting down on the free chair, waving away the Zeltron waitress who was about to ask for his order.

"So what brings you to this backwater" Lister asked, leaning forward and clasping his hands together "With the excitement taking place I thought that you had no time for smuggling"

"I'm not here to smuggle for you Durr" Solo shot back lightly "My ship still bears the scars of the last time I smuggled for you"

"I admit that business was dangerous back then"

"An _Imperial _star destroyer is not my idea of a little dangerous" Han replied "I got your cargo through that hellhole only to learn that you pulled out when things got a little hairy"

"Han, Han" the Falleen chided "Talking like that makes you sound like an eighty year old man"

"Really?"

"Of course" Durr replied, swirling his glass of Ryloth wine "Now then my friend, if you are not here to take a smugglers job then what are you here for?"

"Information" Han answered "You've heard of the increased piracy in this sector?"

"Do you think I keep my head in the ground Han" Durr groaned "Of course I know, my regular traders, slavers and smugglers are refusing to take any jobs because of it. These days Chaos pirates are either scaring their opposition straight or outright killing them"

"The reason I am here Durr is because a team of Jedi were sent here to investigate and haven't been heard from since they made planet fall" he tapped his hand against the table, noticing the crime lords two guards tense ever so slightly.

"And why would you come to me?"

"Because if anything is happening in this sector it's a good bet you're in on it" Han replied "And I don't have the patience for you to play coy"

"You seem tense Han" Durr said, his reptilian eyes darting back and forth "What would make the great Rebel hero so tense, and why would the great rebel hero have an Inquisition dog and a Jedi child with him"

"Durr-"

"Yes Han, four Jedi came to me asking for information about the recent pirate raids" Lister growled "Sadly someone else came to me before hand, said that he represented someone who would pay top notch for live Jedi. Those four seemed like a blessing"

"What?" Han asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh it was quite costly, they managed to take down a dozen of my best mercs" Lister whispered sadistically "But for the chance to let my smugglers through the trading route, plus for the amount of credits they offered per live Jedi" he held out his hand and snapped his fingers "I couldn't resist"

Within a heartbeat twenty of the bars occupants pulled out blasters and settled them on Han and his two associates.

"Sith" Han cursed under his breath.

"And you're little Jedi friend over there, plus the other three outside are bound to be worth something" Lister scoffed as he took a few steps back "But these Inquisition lapdogs are worth nothing, crush them!"

------

"Something is wrong" Gabriel said calmly to Michelle, the battle sister nodded in response and in one smooth motion pulled out a duo of bolt pistols, quickly loading them with explosive rounds.

The sounds of weapons fire was audible first and the crowds began stampeding in every conceivable direction. The Jedi quickly grabbed a hold of the sister's waist and performed a force jump, grunting slightly from the extra weight.

"How much do you weigh?"

"It's not me you fool, it's the bloody armour" she growled but looked down to see what was happening in the main street below. It was quickly emptying. A dozen bodies littered the ground. At least ten mercenary goons stood together at the entrance to the cantina, their blasters out and smoking from the sudden use.

"All teams assemble" Gabriel said into his comlink through gritted teeth, how they dare murder innocent people just to drive them into the open. Within a heartbeat Alana and Anakin were beside him, lightsabres out and ignited. Lara had made her way up to the rooftop where her master was perched, a handful of throwing needles held ready.

In one smooth jump the three Jedi soared into the air, deflecting blaster fire with their lightsabres as if it were second nature. They landed within the cluster of thugs and started on the offensive. Alana danced with grace, slicing blaster barrels and chopping off limps, Anakin sent three of the murderers flying into a wall with a well timed force push and Gabriel ripped the weapons off the remaining assassins and held them in the air with the force, turning them around and pointing them at their owners.

The commotion within the cantina was what he feared. It seemed that Han's little reunion didn't go according to plan. He was about to lead a charge into the bar when he felt the force around him recoil. A hail of splinter fire riddled the entrance to the cantina, causing the three Jedi to jump away too the middle of the street.

Dark Eldar spilled out from the side alleys, fifteen warriors dressed in their spiked armour of black and purple, wielding splinter rifles and a selection of deadly nightmarish blades, at their lead was a forceling, a Dark Jedi. On the rooftops a further five warriors burst through the door connecting the roof to the floor below, led by two forcelings.

The trap had been sprung.


	6. Dark Side of the Universe

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Dark Side of the Universe**_

**Roon City**

**Landing Pad No. 26**

The landing pad was twice the size of the _Millennium Falcon_, a large disc fifty meters in diameter with a ramp leading down to a walkway. This walkway branched off to another four landing bays and a small domed structure which held the central office.

Leia Organa frowned as she performed safety checks on the starships internal systems, several circuit breakers were blinking in the red and the targeting system for the _Falcons _anti-personnel belly gun was malfunctioning. She wasn't surprised. She had told Han a dozen times that the targeting system needed replacing.

She didn't hear the Farseer approach, in fact half a dozen times she wondered if the woman weighed anything at all with the ethereal way that she seemed to glide from room to room, even with her mesh armoured suit.

Ishta was prepared for a fight, even after her Craftworld disowned her she still wore the colours of Ulthwe with her slender armour of black and white with a long black cape embroidered with white and red, she held her curved war helm under her arm and her main weapons, twin witchblades were sheathed to her waist along with a shuriken pistol.

"Are you expecting a war?" Leia asked lightly as the Farseer stood to her left, looking out the cockpit, her purple eyes sharp and clear, and her long white hair tied up in a topknot with a strand of black silk.

"One must expect the unexpected" Ishta replied "You know this as well, considering you've been wearing your lightsabre since we made planet fall"

"One cannot be too careful" Leia agreed, turning back to the main console and frowning as the scan showed several more malfunctioning circuit breakers.

"How does this ship remain in the air" Ishta asked as she leaned over the princess's shoulder.

"With a lot of elbow grease and even more luck"

Suddenly the Farseer's head snapped to the landing bay beyond, unconsciously reaching for one of her swords "Someone's out there"

Leia felt it through the force a few moments before the proximity alarms blazed. Someone was firing at the ship. Quickly she brought up several exterior surveillance cameras, three of them were showing nothing but static, then another two went offline "Someone's blinding us"

Ishta spun on her heel and went to leave the cockpit, placing her war helmet over her head and sealing it with one smooth motion of her gauntleted hands, she stopped as she was about to exit "Stay here, I'll go and deal with it"

"Hold on a minute" Leia retorted, rising from her chair and grasping the hilt of her lightsabre "This is my ship, no one fires at her without answering to me"

The two women made their way down to the landing ramp, opening it and exiting without a second thought. They were immediately met with splinter and blaster fire, forcing them to jump away. Eight figures, five Dark Eldar and three warriors similar in appearance to the Emperors old Shadow Guards were firing upon them, and at their lead was a Kel Dor wearing light black armour and holding an ignited red bladed lightsabre.

Ishta quickly drew her two witchblades and erected a barrier around her, tiny miniscule white shards and ruby beams impacted off it. Leia immediately fell into the Ataru lightsabre stance, running towards their attackers, performing quick eye deceiving stunts to keep away from the weapons fire. She jumped into the air, landing between a duo of Dark Eldar, taking the head off one and throwing the other off the landing pad with a well timed force shove.

One of the black robed soldiers approached her, dropping his blaster and robes as he walked, revealing light black carapace armour. He drew a meter long pole and thumbed an activation switch, igniting a ruby red blade from the tip. The two met in a hail of sparks as their two blades locked together. The other two Shadow Guards had likewise disposed of their robes and blasters, drawing and igniting their own lance lightsabres.

The Farseer rolled across the bay, throwing one of her blades and imbedding it in a darklings chest. She flicked her fingers and it flew back to her, spurting blood as it exited its victim. She threw her second blade, beheading another who was charging her with a set of throwing knives.

The fifth and final one backed away, firing bursts of white shards from its splinter rifle. It was useless. The Farseer reached out with her hand and shaped it into a claw. Mimicking a forceling choke. The darkling dropped his weapon and started clawing at his throat, forcing his helm off to reveal deathly pale skin and bulging eyes. She telekinetically lifted him into the air and threw him down the landing bay, feeling his bones snap and break when he hit the ground thirty meters below.

The Dark Jedi was on her then, stabbing out with his lightsabre. Ishta cast a glance over Leia's way to see her run her lightsabre through one of the black armoured soldiers, slicing through his side to block a strike from one of the other two. The daughter of the famous Darth Vader was showing that she was more than a match for her adversaries.

Ishta quickly gained the advantage in the fight, blocking her opponent's strikes with one blade and attacking him with the other. He was forced to step back, ducking and sidestepping to avoid the Eldar's lethal barrage. She vanished from sight, using her supernatural speed to outflank him and attack the Kel Dor from behind. It worked. She stabbed out with both witchblades, cutting into his back and exiting his chest, the Dark Jedi let out a strangled cry before going limp.

At the same time Leia took the head off the second Shadow Guard and brought her blade up in time to parry an overhead strike from the third and last. He spun in midair, hitting the ground and performing several handstands to gain some space between him and his opponent. He landed on his feet, reignited his lightlance and got a good look at the massacre. The Farseer had dealt with the remaining Dark Eldar and Rak Loon was dead at her feet. His two comrades had met their fate with the help of Leia Organa's lightsabre. He needed to escape and warn his brethren.

He rose, deactivated his lightlance and jumped back, falling from the landing bay to the streets below. The Farseer and Jedi didn't cast him a glance. Instead they locked the starship and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop with their powers.

"If we were attacked then the meeting was a trap" Ishta called over.

"Yes" Leia agreed "You're right. I sense it in the force. Curse it why did I not sense it sooner"

------

Han watched in shock as Marcus Von Rosenberg was pummelled with blaster fire, barrage after bloody barrage struck the Inquisition agent, riddling his entire body with burn marks and holes from the few slug-throwers being employed. His dead form fell backwards, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes.

The sudden violence had started a near panic from the normal patrons of the cantina. Almost everyone was cramming through the main exit in an attempt to escape. People fell to the floor and were trampled by other panicked people. The staff were all either hiding behind the bar or trying to escape through the side exits. The Twi'lek dancers cowered behind the stage along with the Bith band.

A barrel pushed itself against the side of his head and Han found himself starring down the barrel of a blaster pistol. It was Durr's Nautolan guard, smirking. Chadaara had jumped on top of the bar, her lightsabre out and ignited, but she was starring down the barrels of twenty guns. She wouldn't have a prayer.

"Now, now child" Durr laughed, drawing his own blaster pistol and pointing it to the pretty Togruta's head "There is no need for you to suffer the same fate as your friend, just surrender"

She remained silent so he sighed and pressed the barrel of his own pistol to Han's head "Then you leave me no choice. Surrender without a fight or he dies"

Han shook his head her way, he wasn't about to be the catalyst in getting another young Jedi kidnapped, or worse "Don't worry about me kid, get outta here"

Durr's pistol slammed into the side of Han's head, forcing him to the ground with a painful thump, he felt blood on the side of his head.

"If you run then we will kill him" Lister said, kicking Han in the stomach for good measure.

Weapons fire and screams could be heard. His partner had launched an attack on the Jedi and Inquisition agents outside. Damn it this was going to get messy. It would bring the police out in numbers, maybe even detachments of Roon's Defence Forces. The Togruta sagged, dropped her lightsabre and wearily jumped back to the ground.

"No kid" Han spurted "Don't do it!!"

"Quiet" the Falleen snarled, kicking Han in the gut again to shut him up.

She was assaulted by Durr's thugs immediately, punched in the stomach by a big human, she was pummelled to the floor by hits from three other mercs. They crowded around the fallen Jedi, kicking and insulting her. The crime boss grinned. His partner said he wanted the Jedi alive. They didn't say that they couldn't roughen up their catch first.

------

"They're doing better than I expected"

Freya cast a glance to the Twi'lek standing beside her. The two had been watching the ambush since its beginning. The Jedi had held they're own, taking down three Darklings before performing a well strategized retreat to the building where the Inquisition was holding out. Gunfire flashed from the rooftop as the agents and the Darklings clashed.

"Indeed" Freya agreed "It isn't just a bunch of ragtag Jedi they have sent"

She felt the Shadow Guardsmen through the force before he appeared before her, kneeling to the ground "My lady"

"What are you doing here" Larsi scowled "You were supposed to be dismantling the _Falcon _so they couldn't escape!"

"We were my lady" he replied "But we ran into a problem, they had left a rearguard"

"Who would be strong enough to take out a member of the thirteen, three Shadow Guards and five Dark Eldar warriors?" Freya asked.

"The daughter of the Dark Lord" he said, the name chilling both Dark Jedi "And the renegade Farseer"

"And?"

"They are on their way here"

This changed everything. Although Leia Organa was no where near as strong as her brother she was still considered a powerful forceling in her own right. The Rogue was another matter, Ishta had gained a reputation for being not just a fearsome fighter but a powerful Psyker as well, and her children were of great interest to her master.

"We will head them off" Larsi said "You lead our forces in our stead, no failure or you will suffer, understand?"

"Crystal clear, my lady" the Guardsmen replied before bowing and vanishing in a blur of motion.

"Well shall we go?" the Twi'lek asked lightly.

------

Anakin lightly jumped from ledge to ledge, deftly avoiding blaster and splinter fire. In one smooth motion he hopped from the third floor ledge, grabbing the steel bar of a tall sign post and using his momentum to swing around it and up to the ledge of the roof, deflecting three ruby red bolts in midair.

Gabriel was up before him, deflecting blaster fire with the sapphire blade of his lightsabre, guarding the agents who had taken cover and concentrated fire on the door which led to the floor below. The wooden frame had blown off a few moments ago, sending the door careening into the Dark Eldar in a hail of splinters, the bolt round responsible creating a large hole in the first Darklings side.

Alana came up a few moments after him, cart wheeling over the ledge and landing in a crouch. She reactivated her lightsabre, the two violet blades of her double edge thrumming.

"Can't go back down there" she mumbled, noticing that her cloak had a few miniscule holes in it.

"Damn that means they're on their own in there" Anakin muttered as he deflected several splinter rounds.

Just then a hail of heavy weapons fire smacked into the ledge, sending pieces of dislodged masonry into the air, Alana rolled to the side, just missing the hail as it left craters in the roof where she was. Michelle quickly spun around, firing several rounds from her bolt pistols at their attacker. A Dark Eldar had made his way to the roof of the cantina and was firing a heavy Splinter Cannon.

Gabriel acted quickly, he threw his lightsabre. The blade soared perfectly straight across the street and imbedded itself straight through the Eldar's chest. He called it back to him, the momentum forcing the dying alien over the ledge to the ground below.

"Umm guys" Alana called "This doesn't look good"

Lara came up beside her, starring with the Jedi over the edge to see several Dark Eldar activate hover-boards, un-strapping them from their backs and stepping on them before ascending to their level. Splinter rifles held ready.

"You're right" Lara muttered "That doesn't look good at all"

She drew her laspistol and fired off a few shots, one hitting a Dark Eldar in the face, but when they came up they fired upon them. Splinter fire ricocheted off the masonry, kicking up shards and chips. Gabriel, Anakin and Alana immediately started deflecting them with their lightsabres but the others didn't have the same luxury, Lara jumped in front of Robyn, taking a splinter round in the shoulder which sent her spinning in midair and hitting the ground with a painful thump. Additional shots impacted off the ground around her, one hitting her left leg with a fleshy thump. She gritted her teeth, emitting a sharp moan of pain.

Robyn was beside her in an instant, using her body to shield her fallen agent and firing off a few rounds with her bolt pistol. One struck the fuel engine of a hover-board, causing it to explode, taking its rider with it. It was then that several more Darklings forced their way through the roof door, or what was left of it. Running through Michelle's bolter fire, two took direct hits and died on the spot. But the others used them as flesh shields and fired.

"Marcus" Robyn called into her miniscule headphone, raising the tone of her voice to be heard "Marcus Von Rosenberg. Initiate Warp Release, Level 3, Beta Level!"

------

In the darkened confines of the cantina it was the same story as outside. Han was on the floor with a dozen blasters aimed at him. Chaadara had lost consciousness after she had been pistol whipped in the face, and had been dragged out through the back door. Marcus was dead, bullets and burns riddling his body and a pool of blood covering the floor.

He was dead, yet he moved. His face split open into a Cheshire cats smile, dead eyes regained life and dimmed to a deadly blood red. His entire form became mist, a black mist which encompassed and swallowed his wrecked body. It rose from the floor and retook a form.

Everyone in the cantina turned too see the spectacle. The thugs and mercenaries fired into the mist, only too see the bolts phase through like nothing was there at all, slamming into the bar, bottles and glasses exploded and the fine wooden finish burned through. Those innocents still in the cantina were cowering in corners, trying to find whatever shelter they could from this storm which they had found themselves caught in.

Laughter boomed from the mist as it began to take a dark form, the laughter began as a light, dark chuckle, but gained volume until it was a bellow.

"Sith me" Durr muttered as he watched the man they had killed step from the dissipating mist, his ruined clothes and hat losing their damage as surely as his body was.

"Release confirmed, my master" Marcus laughed maniacally, reaching into his coat "Level 3 warp power granted, remain unlocked until all hostile targets have been silenced"

"Kill him" the mob boss cowered "Kill him, shoot him!"

The revived agent pulled out a long barrelled weapon, a beautifully elegant bolt gun crafted like an ancient pistol. Its entire form was made of pure silver with the black runes running along both sides of the barrel, the runes said in high gothic 'Enemies of the Emperor. Feel his judgement'.

He aimed his weapon and squeezed the trigger, each shot hit their mark. The heads of four mobsters were turned to red mist by the time they reacted. Ruby red bolts slammed into the laughing agent, riddling his body again. But this time he did not fall, this time he remained standing.

"You'll need more than those toys to stop me" he muttered, blasting the leg off another mercenary. He was in the middle of the bar now. A trio of thugs took cover behind an overturned table. He swung his bolt pistol, releasing a concentrated bolt of warp energy. It sliced through the table with a fantastic explosion, taking the bench and the three mercenaries with it.

The big Gamorrean charged him, a pair of heavy vibro-axes held in his big hands like children's toys. He swung them, but missed. He was met with a black leather boot to his pig like features, caving in the front of his skull and sending his body crashing through a table. The Nautolan was next. He threw several knives at the assassin, which bounced harmlessly off Marcus's form. He fired his bolt pistol twice, the first round tearing through his forearm and the second disintegrating his chest.

By now the mob boss had come to his senses and fled, leaving the last few of his guards to be slaughtered. A blaster round burned through his leg, causing the Falleen to fall to the ground with a screech, he rolled to his back in time to see Han Solo, battered but still able, holding a hold out blaster straight at Durr's head.

"Now where did you take the kid" he growled "For every second you don't answer you lose one of your limbs"

Marcus had finished off the last assassin, leaving the ruined remains of the cantina behind and walking casually into the street. Releasing an empty magazine and slamming a fresh one in place midstride. Han had heard of how powerful those types of psykers were, and now that he saw one in action he understood why the Imperium feared them so much.

"It was only business Han" Durr begged, he screamed as a blaster bolt tore through his left knee.

"Where is she?"

------

"There's too many of them" Alana panted, a fresh sheen of sweat covered her face as she batted another volley of blaster fire away.

The Jedi had been driven back to the edge of the rooftop by the screeching hover-boarders. They had been separated from the Inquisitor and her agents. Lara was on the ground, Robyn was shielding her with her body, firing off the last few rounds of her pistol, and Michelle had drawn a long bladed powersword and was even now fighting off three Darklings by herself.

"Don't let your guard down Alana" Anakin called over the din, grabbing a piece of debris with the force and throwing it at the fleeting Eldar above.

Alana spun, deflected a handful of bolts with practised ease, silently thanking all of her teachers in the fighting arts. If it wasn't for Gabriel's lessons on lightsabre forms, Ishta's gruelling training regiments or Master Yoda's classes on advanced duelling she didn't know how she would survive.

The Hellion boarders soared down on strafing runs, peppering the roof with splinter cannon fire. Robyn and Lara were in the way, without thinking Alana performed a force jump, somersaulting over the skirmish between the Jedi and the Darklings. She landed between the Inquisitor and the Hellion. Quickly she reached out with her free hand and brought up a forcefield, splinter fire slammed into the shield forcing the young Jedi back a few steps.

Robyn fired off three more rounds, the second catching the undercarriage of the hover-board, the raider went up in a bright flash as its fuel tank detonated. Alana and Robyn locked eyes and the young Jedi gave her a wink. Robyn smirked, but the smirk was replaced by shock at what she saw.

She didn't even see the Mandrake until it collided with Alana and the two of them were forced straight back to the roofs edge. Robyn aimed her pistol and pulled the trigger, only to hear a click of an empty magazine. She let the empty clip fall and reached for another one. As she slammed it in she aimed to see the Mandrake fall backwards, dead as he hit the ground. For a moment Robyn let relief flood her, but it didn't last.

Alana looked down at her stomach to see a knife. She staggered back a few steps, pulling the weapon out of her abdomen with a squirt of blood. Shocked she looked at the Inquisitor, who was trying to get to her. But she didn't make it. Alana fell.

------

Gabriel felt Alana falling before he saw her, his instinct took over. He jumped away from the battle, reached out with his hands and grabbed Alana's form through the force, stopping her rapid descent just a millisecond before she hit the ground three storeys below.

As he set her down he didn't notice the Dark Jedi until he had made his move, he struck Gabriel with a bout of force lightning, throwing him back against a section of concrete. The Anzati then charged the Jedi master, lightsabre ready to impale him. But Gabriel was still conscious. He rolled just as the lightsabre stabbed through the concrete and took the offending Dark Jedi's head off with a quick draw from his lightsabre.

------

"Alana"

Leia heard Ishta mutter the name, her voice and force signature radiating worry, something had happened to the young Knight, something bad. They were nearing the area where the cantina was now. Thin wisps of smoke rose from the site. Weapons fire, the roar of machines and terrified screams of people caught in the carnage could be heard. It reminded the princess of one of many war zones she had seen.

"What is it" Leia asked.

"We need to hurry" the Farseer said, ignoring the Skywalker's question for the moment. She increased her speed twofold and Leia found herself struggling to keep up.

Suddenly the force screamed into her mind, danger, and she stopped on the next rooftop, nudging Ishta psychically to do the same. She felt confusion, and then impatience as the Farseer jumped beside her.

Several air conditioning conduits were torn from their places and sent flying at them. Leia raised her right hand, stopping the one aimed at her and tossing it to the ground. Ishta's method wasn't nearly as subdued. She drew a witchblade, concentrated warp energy around it and swung. The conduit was sliced neatly in half.

Two figures came from the shadows of the setting sun. There was a _snap-hiss _as lightsabres were ignited.

**I just like to use this to answer an FFPM from a writer named RTM, because I can't contact him through the normal method. You're story sounds great man, but it also sounds like it can stand on its own.**


	7. Nightmares

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Mandrake**_

The two Dark Jedi were both female and both had strong force signatures. Leia considered that these two were possibly the commanding officers among this strike force of Dark Eldar and Fallen Jedi. In fact they were easily five times stronger than the Shadow Guardsmen she had faced in the landing bay.

The Twi'lek female was, like most of her race, a strikingly beautiful creature. Her skin was a dazzling violet in colour with swirling black tattoos around her dark eyes, exposed arms and down her two long head-tails. She wore an armless black suit of body covering leather with tight black leather pants and knee high boots. She was armed with two lightsabres, both half meter long poles with blades erupting from the sides, like a pair of sickles.

The other was a female Human and, like her partner, was physically striking. Her skin was a pale ashen white, giving her the appearance of the undead. Her hair was long and blonde with white highlights. Her eyes were a fiery sapphire. She wore a long sleeved robe with a black sleeveless armoured jacket and black boots.

"That is as far as you go" the Twi'lek growled, her two lightsickles exploding to life with a pair of _snap-hisses_ showing two shimmering, ruby red, curved blades of light. Leia's own lightsabre snapped to life then, her teeth grinding against each other in irritation.

Ishta was already on the move, flying towards the blonde haired Dark Jedi and swinging at her head. A crimson blade erupted from the woman's long sleeve, blocking the witchblade, and then moving to block the other blade from the other direction. She sidestepped, evading another jab and blocking the second, the blades locked. The Dark Jedi's lightsabre was a simple single blade with a long chain attached to the butt, leading to a rune encrusted steel bangle fastened to her wrist.

She deflected another three strikes from the Farseer before jumping away, landing on top of an outhouse and using the force, grabbed a steel ventilator and wrenching it from its bolts with a metallic screech. She threw the machine at Ishta, only to see it sliced in two by her Witchblades. Leia had engaged the Twi'lek by then, ducking and sidestepping as her opponent danced, swinging her twin sickles in intricate patterns.

------

Did he have a name? He could not remember such a thing. But for as long as he could remember he had been in the service of his master. All he knew was his number, the number given to him, SGA-21. That was proof of his existence.

Shadow Guardsmen A-21 stood atop of a rooftop, giving him a perfect vantage point of the battle taking place below. He noticed a figure coming out of the cantina. It wasn't one of the crime lord's men. He activated the comlink installed into his bullet shaped helmet, sending a quick series of clicks.

His master was fully prepared for the presence of a Psyker. He had made sure that the Archon sent a unit of elites with them, armed with anti-warp technology. The Mandrakes shimmered into view like wraiths, disengaging their cloaking devices and showing their bladed weapons.

Five of them surrounded the Psyker while another three appeared on the rooftop. One incapacitating a Jedi before the Jedi killed him. She then fell backwards from the rooftop, out of view.

A-21 grunted disapprovingly, his master wanted the Jedi alive, not dead. He jumped and spun in midair, dropping the full three stories and landing on the ground in a crouch. He then broke out into a run. He might as well check to see if the Jedi was salvageable.

------

The five Mandrakes seemed to come out of thin air, armed with strange shimmering swords. Marcus felt their makeup and immediately backed away, snarling. Phase swords, Emperor damn anti-warp weapons. He aimed his pistol and squeezed off a shot, missing his target as the Mandrake jumped and twisted in the air.

Using the warp the agent jumped high, concentrating warp energy into his free hand and pointing to the ground, releasing a rapid cluster of shots like his finger was a gun. The blasts struck the ground, exploding in a mass of dust and debris. His shots missed their targets. The Mandrakes exploded from the thick dust clouds, following the Psyker to a far rooftop.

Marcus landed solidly, aimed his pistol and fired off a few more rounds at the approaching elites. They twisted and barrelled in midair, missing the bolt rounds with practised ease. They landed gracefully and charged the Psyker again. Marcus released another blast of energy from his free hand, watching in annoyance as the targeted Mandrake hopped to the side.

The Psyker stepped back, retracting his gun arm in time to miss a slicing Phase sword. He took several steps back, missing a dozen more jabs and swings, ducking and sidestepping. He tried to aim his gun, but was forced to dodge again and again. A second Mandrake tried to take off his legs from behind with a swing, but he jumped landing on the shoulders of the second with ease and using him as leverage to jump back, performing a backward somersault and landing on his feet. He aimed his bolt pistol and fired, leaving a gapping hole in the seconds back.

He sidestepped a stab from the third and reached out, placing a finger on the creature's chest and mumbling a few ancient words. A heavily condensed beam of warp energy pierced his chest like a lance, extending by three meters before taking the form of a dragon head, the beam seemed to roar as it dissipated.

He spun, aiming his gun. The last three stood several meters away from him. One had sheathed his Phase sword and reached into his armour, pulling out a small black orb which seemed to pulse in his clawed gauntlet. The creatures cracked lips moved wordlessly.

Marcus felt like his mind exploded, a mind numbing pain worse than any headache he had ever felt. He fell to his knees, vomiting, his eyes watering. He reached out with his free hand, saw it glow jaggedly with crimson warp energy, but then it dissipated. He tried again, harder this time, his eyes glowing from the exertion, but it only lasted for a few more heartbeats before it degenerated again.

Whatever that small fist sized ball was it clearly had a warp numbing property. That was it. His well of power, that corridor which connected him to the warp had been closed off to him like a door. His entire body went into spasms, like he was a drug addict going through withdrawal.

The Mandrake approached alone, drawing his Phase sword and taking a few experimental swings. He loomed over the fallen agent and lifted his sword, ready to strike.

Marcus's wireless earpiece crackled "Marcus! Marcus, speak to me!" it was the Inquisitor.

"Master I-"

"I know Marcus, I feel it too" Robyn's cool voice replied "Switch on your warp inhibitor to its highest setting"

"But-"

"It was not just designed to stop the chances of you being possessed or corrupted" she explained quickly "It was also created to protect you from anti-warp tech, like this!"

Marcus acted quickly, mentally activating his warp inhibitor and turning it up to its highest setting, the pain numbed and dissipated, but the void was still felt. The Mandrake stabbed down with his sword. Marcus reached out with his gloved hand and caught the blade, hissing as it sliced through the fabric of his gloves, then his skin. Blood trickled down the blade. He pulled the Mandrake too him, the barrel of his gun pressing against the creature's gut.

"Eat this!!!" he shouted and pulled the trigger.

------

Larsi flew across the roof and landed hard, her entire body skipping across the duracreet roof like a stone before coming to a rough stop. Freya watched, stunned as the Farseer moved like a ghost, so fast that a dark reflective blur followed her. She flew at her companion, ready to administer the killing blow.

She wouldn't have that. Freya jumped across the roof, landed beside her moaning comrade and blocked the woman's witchblade with her lightsabre, they locked and sparks flew.

"Leia" the Eldar called over the burning din "Go ahead, I'll deal with these two!"

The princess nodded and ran, jumping across the gap to the other rooftop. Freya tried to disengage. To follow, but the Farseer got in her way again and their weapons locked. She snarled, but the Eldar woman's crescent helm was unreadable.

"Where do you think you're going" she mocked "You're fights with me!"

The Twi'lek limped to her feet, left arm hanging uselessly at her side. It was dislocated, or possibly worse. Larsi Pullo was one of the strongest of the Thirteen. She held the third seat and she was just thrown across the gravel like an amateur. She was in a rage right now. That made her dangerous.

Larsi used her good arm to grab her useless one and pulled it hard. There was a pop as the bone was forced back into the socket. She moved it experimentally, flexing her fingers and wincing a few times as the pain remained, but she could use her left arm again. In one smooth motion she reached out with both hands and her two lightsickles flew back to her.

"Well now lady Farseer" she snarled "Lets get down to bloody business"

------

Robyn barely had time to register the fact that Michelle had died. The Battlesisters body lay on top of three Darklings, her chest plate covered with miniscule holes from successful splinter hits. She couldn't believe it. One moment she was standing with her back to back. Then a blasted Darkling got a lucky shot off.

Time seemed to slow as her friends body fell to the ground, her dimming eyes locked with hers before closing, accepting her fate with a warriors smile. Robyn felt the sister's voice whisper into her mind.

_It was a pleasure to serve my lady_

Robyn growled angrily, aiming her pistol and firing a shot, taking off the bastards head with her last round. The clip fell from her gun and she reached into her satchels for another, but found nothing, she had completely used up all of her spare ammunition.

She holstered the pistol and drew her power-sword from its sheath before falling back to Lara. Gabriel and Anakin were doing the same. The three of them formed the points of a triangle around the unconscious agent, lightsabres flaring and power-sword humming. The Dark Eldar surrounded them, eight on the ground, and three in the air. Splinter rifles trained on them. They were surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned.

They waited for the Darklings to make their move. Two of them slung their rifles, reached into satchels and threw several small metallic balls at their feet. They exploded.

Robyn hit the ground hard. Her eyesight going white and her ears screeching like a nail down a chalkboard, she cursed herself for being so stupid. Her eyesight slowly returned. A Dark Eldar warrior stood over her, knocking the butt of his splinter rifle against her forehead.

Everything went black.

The stunners had done their job. The two Jedi, the Inquisitor and her last agent were all out cold from the stun blasts. Quickly the Dark Eldar moved in to finish the job, knocking out anyone who was still even remotely conscious. One of the Darklings clicked on a com.

"We have them" he whispered.

------

The last two Mandrakes stopped in their tracks, both looking in the direction of the main skirmish. Marcus silently thanked the Emperor. He was stooping over, his pistol held in his last good hand, his other hung at his side. Blood trickled down his useless arm from several light cuts. His forehead had been cut open by a Phase blade, a shallow cut, but it bled profusely.

Since he had been forced to block his warp inhibitor they had been toying with him. He was able to kill one of them with a point blank range, half of the blood and cartilage covering his torn clothes was from that Darkling. But without his warp powers he was no more than a man, and these were biologically engineered killers.

They ignored him, both sheathing their Phase swords and jumping away from the roof. Marcus tried to follow, but his legs buckled and he fell to his knees, panting and lightheaded from blood loss. He threw his head back and roared in rage, his voice echoed through the streets.

------

"What a mess"

Alana heard the voice before she felt a boot lightly tap her side, she creaked open her eye to see a Shadow Guardsmen standing over her. His lightlance ignited and burning crimson in his right hand. She felt numb below her abdomen. Darkness crept at the sides of her vision. Was she dying?

"My master wanted you alive" he muttered to himself, as if he didn't know she was conscious, he raised his lightlance over his head, ready for a downward stab "No matter, I suppose three Jedi will be enough"

It didn't matter if she was dying. He was going to kill her anyway. She closed her eyes again as he began his downward stroke. There was a slight gust of wind, and a sparking as two lightsabres crashed together. Alana weakly opened her eyes.

Leia Organa stood over her, her emerald lightsabre locked with the Shadow Guards lance. She batted it away with skill and went on the offensive, parrying his weapon and lashing out, taking his head off in one clean stroke. She turned around and kneeled beside Alana, not giving the decapitated body enough time to hit the dusty ground.

"The others" she muttered weakly before coughing up a gob of blood.

Leia shushed her softly "I know, we'll get them back"

------

These Dark Jedi were worthy opponents, Ishta realised. Alone she could have dealt with them easily, but together they were an impressive and flawless team. They reminded her of how Gabriel and she learned how to fight, using each others strengths to cover their weaknesses.

She stepped back, using each of her witchblades to fend off the two's constant assaults. Her weapons spun in her hand, parrying and deflecting with finesse and speed. She jumped a sweeping kick from the Twi'lek, deflecting the lightsabre of the Human in midair before performing a backward somersault, landing on her feet in time to parry a thrown lightsickle. The weapon flew back to its owner who deftly caught it with her free hand.

Ishta spun in midair, sheathing one of her swords and using the freed hand to call upon the warp, a blast of flame escaped her fingertips, catching the Dark Jedi off guard. The Human was able to get out but the Twi'lek wasn't quite fast enough. The flames caught her, burning the right side of her face and arm. She screamed as she fell, clutching her burning body with her hands.

The Human screamed in anger and fired off a round of force lightning. Ishta crossed her arms, letting her gauntlets take the brunt of the barrage. A kick struck her midsection and she staggered back, parrying a sudden violent series of strikes from the enraged Dark Jedi's lightsabre.

Suddenly the Dark Jedi jumped back to her fallen comrade, her head turned towards the site of the skirmish. Ishta could feel that someone was calling out to her, but through the force she had no clue. Suddenly the Human turned to her, snarling before picking up her unconscious teammate in her arms and jumping away, throwing a handful of smoke grenades to hamper pursuit.

Ishta wasn't interested. She felt that something had just gone terribly wrong. She started rushing to the scene again, this time no one would stand in her way. Alana was dying, Gabriel was incapacitated. These beings would pay.

------

Han ducked behind a crate and fired off a few rounds with his blaster. After forcing the information out of Durr he had found the landing pad where they had taken the young Jedi. He followed, only to be ambushed by the crime lord's thugs when he got to the pad. The starship was an ancient B-99 Light Freighter, most likely belonging to one of the slim-balls smugglers.

Chaadara had been carried onto the starship when he arrived, now the loading ramp was closing and he heard a coughing whine as the engines were being warmed. He didn't have a lot of time. He aimed and fired his blaster, catching a Rodian in the chest. He was forced behind the crate again as the last three mercs peppered his position, ruby red beams crisscrossed overhead, singeing his hair and skin from near misses.

With no other choice he let out a battle-cry and charged, firing his pistol on its auto setting. One thug went down from a clean shot to the face, then another to the chest. He jumped over the crate, his booted foot catching the last mercenary in the face and sending him sprawling to the walkway. He ascended the wide steps to the landing pad, reaching into one of his satchels and pulling out a small tracking device.

The ship was lifting off. He threw the device, watching as it hit the hull and stuck there. He then jumped to the side, just missing a line of blaster bolts ricochet off the steel as the B-99's rear tail gun let loose a flurry of ruby bolts. It lifted off and fired its atmospheric thrusters, flying off into the lower atmosphere.

"Sorry kid" Han apologised "But at least we can find ya"

He heard the sounds of sirens in the distance, the local law was coming and from the number of sirens he heard they were coming out in numbers. Han scoffed as he made his way down the landing pad, too little to late.


	8. Cometh the Wolves: Part I

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Cometh the Wolves**_

_**Part I**_

The battle had been a costly one. Michelle was dead, her body encased in a transparisteel casket in the cargo bay of the _Falcon_. Alana and Marcus were in one of the living quarters, hooked up to life supporting machines and covered in bacta patches. Robyn, Gabriel, Anakin, Lara and Chadaara were missing, presumed captured by the enemy.

"They knew we were coming" Han said, rubbing his aching temple with his free hand as he reported their current state. On the holo-table were the twenty centimetre tall forms of Luke Skywalker and Grand Admiral Halos "They had the trap down to the last detail, they deployed elite Darkling shock troops, anti-warp weaponry, mercenaries, Mandrakes and Dark forcelings"

"I can send out another team Han" Luke offered "You need reinforcements"

"No kid" Han replied, straightening up in his chair "No more Jedi, no more agents. They'd be ready for anyone who enters the sector. They have the local criminal syndicates under their thumb, the local law enforcement are struggling to stop it from sprouting into open rebellion down here"

"It's worse than you think Han" Luke explained "The senate gained reports from the local governments this morning. The entire sector is in revolt. Separatist movements have sprouted up all over the trade route. Some planets are already in open war"

"I have gained authority from High Command and the Senate" Halos spoke up "What is happening in the sector cannot be ignored. As I speak we are blockading the trade route. A ferry battle squadron is being prepared for surgical entry"

"How much time do we have?"

"Your not thinking of going after them" Halos muttered in disbelief "Its suicide, you've seen what you're up against. It's an alliance of Dark Jedi sects and a Dark Eldar cabal"

"They wiped the floor with us Admiral" Han replied "Four Jedi were taken hostage at the start of this. Now it's seven Jedi, an Inquisitor and one of her agents. This is no longer an Alliance matter, the Imperium will be drawn into this as well"

The Grand Admiral seemed to be torn for a moment but Han could have sworn he saw a small hopeful smile cross his face, then his features were set in stone again "You have a week General" Joseph said "That is how long you have until I send in the battle squadron to quell this rebellion"

"Understood sir"

"May the force be with you General" Joseph said before his hologram flickered and died, leaving only Han and his brother-in-law.

"You cant beat them without help Han" Luke said worriedly "Your at less than half strength, if they assembled a strike team that large then think of the forces they have, then times that by a thousand to add in this separatist movement"

"After what we went through Luke I think we're due a little luck"

------

_She was running through the corridors again, that same corridor of dark stone walls and black stone tiles, the same dim glow lamps. Bodies littered it this time. There were black armoured Shadow Guards, Dark Eldar and countless Alliance troops lying on the floor or bolted to the walls._

_Blood was splattered everywhere, the floor was slick with it. She ran, sliding on the blood before regaining her footing and jumping past the corpses. _

_She had to hurry_

_She had to hurry_

_She had to HURRY!_

_Finally she entered the chamber, she saw the aftermath of a horrific battle. Shadow Guards, Darklings and Alliance soldiers littered the floor, the scene no different than the corridor she had just come from._

_In her haste she tripped over a corpse and fell. She got up, grimacing, only to look down and see the face of her friend. Chadaara lay there, her eyes wide open and blood dribbling from her mouth._

_No_

_No_

_No, no, no, no, NO!!!_

'_This isn't real'_

'_This isn't real'_

_The clashing of weapons caught her attention. Forcing herself to look away from her friend to see the Inquisitor. Robyn Vallace was duelling someone, someone who reminded her of Death. He wore a long flowing robe, covering his features. In his black gloved hands was a long pole with a curved crimson blade ignited from its side. A scythe, she saw._

_Robyn herself was armed with her power-sword, blocking and parrying her attacker. But she wasn't strong enough, he got a slice in and the blade pierced her chest. The Inquisitor staggered back, coughing up blood as he pulled his weapon out. She fell to her knees, then onto her side._

_No_

"No!!!" Alana screamed, sitting upright in bed only to have a pair of slender hands grab her shoulders and pull her back down. She resisted, limbs flailing. A hand came from nowhere and smacked her across the face, hard. She was forced to snap out of her panic to see Ishta looming over her, a worried expression on her porcelain white face.

"Ishta I-"

"Hush" Ishta soothed "Keep calm, just sit still and try not to exert yourself" carefully she pulled back the bacta wrap to inspect her wound "You were lucky, the blade didn't puncture any serious organs"

"It doesn't feel like it" Alana moaned. She then looked across the room in time to see Marcus, already up and about. Pulling off drip cables and tearing off the bandages to reveal that his wounds were closed. She cast a questioning look the Farseer's way.

"The warp" she replied "The stronger the Psyker the faster they heal"

Marcus remained silent, starring pure venom at the two before turning and stalking to the cockpit. Ishta growled something in Eldish, told Alana to remain in bed and stalked after him. She entered the cockpit in time to see the Psyker roar at Han Solo.

"We can't just stand here" he roared in the Smugglers face "We have to follow them. You put a tracking device on the scum's starship didn't you?!!!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Han snarled back, twirling around in his chair and standing up, locking eyes with the agent. For a moment Ishta felt like she was in the room with two beasts.

"Shut up" Leia growled, pushing lightly past Ishta and stalking up to the two "Of course we're going to follow them, they have more than just you're precious Inquisitor. They have my daughter, and now my son as well!!!"

Marcus growled something in High Gothic, it wasn't particularly pleasant. Han countered by muttering something in Huttese and although Ishta wasn't fluent in that language she guessed it wasn't pleasant either.

"They hurt a child whom I consider a daughter" Ishta added venomously "They took my husband and I wasn't even there to try and stop them"

"An Eldar who lets her emotions get the better of her" Marcus mocked.

Ishta's eyes lit up with warp fire, the shine dissipating as she forced herself to calm. Being in a galaxy where she didn't have to worry about 'She who Thirsts' had made her mind training lax. Marcus simply smiled, his own eyes shining crimson behind his amber sunglasses.

"Both of you shut it" Han growled "This is not going to get them back. We need to settle down and plan the next step"

"The next step should be easy" Alana said hoarsely, she was leaning heavily against the doorframe, panting softly from the exertion, her right hand covering the bacta wrap tapped around her abdomen. Ishta saw that blood was seeping through "We follow that ship"

"What are you doing out of bed" Leia asked with a sigh "You're just going to open up those wounds again"

"We follow them" Alana repeated, her voice resonating steel.

"We will" Han assured "I'm already following that smuggler who took Chadaara, wherever he's going the rest of them are probably going"

Alana nodded and tried to enter the cockpit, stumbling as her legs failed her. She was swiftly caught by Ishta who gave her a withering glance before pointing to the corridor "Bed, rest, now. End of discussion!"

------

"Conduit one is overheating by twelve percent" the mechanical voice of the Tech-Priest recited as he read the scroll of numbers running along his dataslate "Reroute coolant from the reserves"

There was a stream of machine noise as the Tech-Priest in the engineering chambers complied and went about the adjustments. He sighed then and paused the data stream for a few moments so his servomotors could digest all the information the machine spirit had given him.

This was an important test, if this was successful then old warp drives would be made obsolete and the Imperium wouldn't need to rely on imported hyperdrives from the Alliance. The Trans-warp drive was a fairly new piece of technology that the Adeptus Mechanicus had created. It combined warp drive technology with the speed of hyperdrive units. If this trial run was successful then the Imperium would gain a safer, faster faster-than-light engine.

The only problem was a safe place to test her, the Corusca galaxy was the best choice, the Eastern sector was better. The Emperor considered this top priority. While he wanted peace with the Galactic Alliance he also wanted them to be equals in every theatre, replacing their aging warp drives was a huge step in that direction.

They were making a scheduled test jump from Denon to Ryloth onboard a Space Marines Strike Cruiser, the recently commissioned _Achilles_. A new warship to replace the aging vessels the Adeptus Astartes were using.

She was a beautiful vessel, a two kilometre long fast attack cruiser. Streamlined and elegant compared to the old relics of the last millennium. It embodied everything the Imperium had gained. Alliance designed deflector shields alongside Imperial armoured hulls. Turbolance batteries, ion cannons, laser cannons, rail guns, missile launchers, torpedo tubes, a full squadron of new _Tornado _Assault Fighters and four _Thunderhawk _Gunships were her armaments. She was the first ship of the Emperor to carry a Trans-Warp Drive and if this test was a success, maybe the first of many.

Across from the Tech-Priest was Fenrir Wolfsbane, a Captain of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter. A tall powerful looking man with a shaved head, his face and skull bore deep scars, especially a long scar which stretched from the left side of his chin, up past his nose to the top of his head on the right. A gift from a Daemonette he bested a decade ago. He wore the grey armour of his chapter with a long cape made of brown fur encompassing him like a shroud.

"Two minutes from Ryloth orbit" a Servitor intoned from one of the surrounding consoles within the oval shaped bridge. The bridge was designed with three levels, separated by a high step and designed as a set of circular platforms.

"Well this little test run of yours seems to be a success Tech-Priest" Wolfsbane said with a bellow of laughter, he was quite a likeable man when you weren't on the other end of his chain-sword.

"Indeed Captain" the Tech-Priest said, his voice a deep, mechanical hiss "The Emperor will be most pleased, just a few minor faults that can be easily rectified"

"Hmm indeed" the Captain replied "Although I find it strange that the Emperor would agree to such a route, we are going to a xeno homeworld"

"I have read extensively on the Twi'lek race Captain" the Priest replied as he shut off his dataslate "And you needn't worry, their race is a curious and cunning one by nature, so they will find you and your marines interesting, but they are not warlike"

"Really"

"Yes. Although history has shown that they would rise up to protect their homes from attack, but as long as we are not a threat to them they will leave us be" he continued "In the time of the Galactic Empire, even before that they were prized by slavers, particularly their women. With the rise of the New Republic they were given a respite and when the Yuuzhan Vong toppled their former masters, the Hutts"

"They became completely free?"

"Yes" the Priest replied "And because of the protection the Alliance gives them they are unmoveable members"

"Ten seconds to Ryloth orbit"

"I think I can report that this run has been a complete success" the Tech-Priest said to himself as the serfs took the ship out of the warp.

"Opening warp portal" one said.

"Drives at eighty percent and holding"

"Bringing her down to sixty"

"Hold on Captain" the Priest warned "This will be a little rough"

"Warp escape in three, two, one, mark"

The ship exploded from the warp like she was surfacing from water, the warp around them rippled and parted, revealing the dark, starry abyss of the Materium realm. A set of tremors shook the full superstructure. The Tech-Priest absently grabbed the observation decks railing. The marine captain stood immobile, his arms folded across his armoured chest, his sheathed power-sword clanking.

"Ryloth control" the communications serf began "This is the Imperial Strike Cruiser _Achilles_ of his Majesties Imperium of Man. Please respond, over"

No answer came.

Alarm claxons blared

"Incoming Contacts" the auspex serf called "Fighter size, six incoming"

"What was that you say about these people being friendly" Wolfsbane growled before turning, his brown fur cloak sweeping around him "Full tactical alert, all crews to their stations. All pilots to your ships!"

The Tech-Priest stalked down to the second level, his crimson cloak billowing behind him. He stopped before the communications console, shoeing away the nervous man and extending his right cybernetic arm. A cable snaked from his wrist, deftly slithering through the air and connecting to one of the consoles connectors.

Static enveloped the bridge, metallic screeching followed, and a single voice broke through. The Tech-Priest was immobile as he worked, his eyes glowing crimson and his form emitting a metallic screech.

"Mayday, mayday" the voice panicked "This is Ryloth control, Ryloth control. We…under heavy attack, our defences…been breached. They are…the ground. Mayday-"

The connection cut, and the Tech-Priest disconnected his cable and shivering as his consciousness returned "That is all I can make of it"

"Bring up the screens" Wolfsbane ordered, waiting as the holographic images fizzled to existence all around him, showing him long range views of the planet. There was a battle, or at least the aftermath of a battle. Blooms of explosions covered the northern tip of Ryloth.

"Magnify" he ordered. The image did so, a single vessel stood within the mass of weapons fire, long lances of emerald being released from its main batteries at the buzzing forms of starfighters. All around them were the wrecked hulks of destroyed defence platforms, bodies were floating free in the vacuum.

"A Star Destroyer" the Tech-Priest whispered "Old _Imperial-class _by the look of it" As he spoke the warship fired a barrage of turbolaser fire into Ryloths atmosphere, the beams hitting the ground and creating several mushroom shaped clouds of dust and smoke.

"It just took out a city sized settlement" one of the serfs reported.

"What about communications"

"Messages are coming through" the serf replied "Emergency services, city guild reports. It seems that three cities have been bombarded since it arrived, thousands are confirmed dead"

"Well Captain" the Priest asked "We would be some help to them. This vessel is more than a match for a Star Destroyer. Plus three squads of Marines and my force of a hundred Skitarii would be more than capable of helping their Defence Forces take anything on the ground"

"Hmm" was the Captains only reply, he was deep in thought, the Tech-Priest knew ten thousand years of fighting aliens would not simply disappear "Send a message. Say that we are the Strike Cruiser _Achilles_, pride of the Space Wolves and we have come to offer aide in the name of the Emperor and our hallowed Primarch Leman Russ!"

The Serf nodded and began sending the message through. Wolfsbane drew his power-sword from its sheath, a beautiful katana styled blade with the head of a snarling wolf decorating the butt of the hilt.

"Brothers, let us go to war!!!"

**I thought you guys would enjoy a little piece of Space Marine action. Anyway I have a little dilemma here. Later on in the story I am split between introducing these guys against the antagonists or a group of Ronin Jedi. I can go for either but I'll let you decide.**

**Oh and sorry about deleting the second epilogue on the Two Galaxy's Saga, you could say that I rushed it and wasn't happy with the results. Again I apologise and will try not to delete anything off my profile. I'll just have to plan ahead.**


	9. Cometh the Wolves: Part II

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Cometh the Wolves**_

_**Part 2**_

Wolfsbane stalked through the corridor into the wide space of the hanger. All around him the new starfighters of the Imperium were de-clamping and rising from their places, shooting out through the ray shielded entrance to the hanger bay thanks to their powerful thrusters.

The new _Tornado _fighters were an impressive sight. Modelled after the old _Lightning _they were sleeker and faster. Armed with a quartet of laser cannons on their pointed nose, twin six-barrel missile launchers under their wings and a far superior communications and targeting system than their predecessor. Their commission into the Emperor's Royal Navy had brought starfighter technology forward by a century.

Wolfsbane's interest was not in these weapons of war. His interest was in the assembling squads of space marines in front of him, three squads of the Emperors Adeptus Astartes to be exact. Thirty space marines, their grey armour polished to a shine, their bolters held to their chests in salute waited for their Captain to arrive and lead them to a war they had waited for since they had been pulled from the front lines some five months ago.

Wolfsbane stopped a few meters away from the assembled column, his eyes unreadable as he placed his helm over his head and sealed it with ease. He looked into the unreadable masks of the warriors under his command.

"Brothers" he began "It looks like we'll have a chance to test our mettle after all. First and second squads with me, we're going to take a little spin in the drop pods. Third squad is to remain here to repel boarders, and if possible take the fight to the enemy"

"What are we dealing with Brother-Captain?" Sergeant Gregor Falcourt asked curtly.

"Enemies my friend" Fenrir answered almost as if he were to sing "Enemies of the allies of the Emperor himself. They attack a world of one of our allies, in doing so they have earned the ire of our noble lord. Orders are simple. Protect the innocent. Decimate the enemy"

"Ai, Brother-Captain" the thirty marines before him bellowed.

"Are you with me brothers?"

"Ai"

"In whose name do we fight!?"

"In the name of the Emperor and the Wolf Lord, Leman Russ" they answered.

"Fall out!"

------

TIE fighters swarmed around the Strike Cruiser, constantly bombarding it with proton torpedoes and laser cannon fire. In response the point-defence rail guns lining the cruisers port, starboard, ventral and dorsal axis spewed out round after round, creating a flak field around the warship and forcing the starfighters away.

On the bridge of the _Achilles _the Tech-Priest watched as flak detonations covered his field of vision, bright flash after flash assaulted his visors, causing them to dim to allow him to see. The star destroyer was changing course, diving at a thirty degree angle to get under the Strike Cruiser and bring its main turbolaser batteries to bear on the bottom section.

"Order the ventral weapon emplacements to open fire" the Tech-Priest ordered sharply "Target the bridge tower and main turbolaser banks of the star destroyer!"

The ion cannons fired first, blue blasts of energy spilled forth, assaulting the dorsal shielding of the star destroyer. The turbolance batteries followed, firing streams of city destroying energy upon the weakening shields. Strike after merciless strike assaulted the destroyer, but it wasn't lying down. Its main and side turbolaser batteries returned the favour, causing the belly of the _Achilles _to flare bright orange as its shields took the punishment.

Around the two duelling vessels were their starfighter escort. Dozens of TIE fighters fought close quarter skirmishes with the Imperial Tornadoesas well as surviving X-wings, A-wings and Y-wings of the planetary starfighter corps. A Tornado, flanked by three Y-wings made it through the main defences and launched a bombardment of proton bombs and Hellstrike missiles, the projectiles slammed into the command towers shields and detonated, causing them to flare and flicker.

The four fighters were then forced to scatter as the star destroyers anti-fighter guns began to train on them. One Y-wing took a hit to one of its wings, sending it spinning out of control before detonating in a bloom of crimson fire. The cruiser and the destroyer moved by each other, the weapon emplacements on both dishing out punishment, but were unable to pierce the shields.

"We have heavy fighting in the northern continent" a servitor intoned "Outside of the capital"

"Set a course for the planets orbit. Prepare the orbital strike pods for immediate launch"

"We have new contacts"

The Tech-Priest turned to the serf "Give me a visual"

A hologram appeared before the scion of the Mechanicus, showing the outline of several vessels positioned on the night side of the planet. With a calculating gaze he ordered the picture changed to night vision, showing him the hidden fleet. There were three of them, cylindrical shaped with high spires positioned along the end of their dorsal axis, right above their powerful ion engines. From their hanger bays flew the last remnants of an invasion force, the tail end of a stream of gunships, each most likely filled with a dozen soldiers.

_Providence-class _Star Cruisers, also known as Trade Federation Cruisers when they were in full military production. They were relics of the Clone Wars, the main capital-ship of the now dead Confederation of Independent Systems. Obsolete or not these three warships and the Star Destroyer had the Strike Cruiser outnumbered and outgunned. Worse still the skirmish with the star destroyer had left the _Achilles _surrounded, the star destroyer stopping their escape, the three cruisers blocking any attempt to skip around the atmosphere and the planet itself.

"They are still unloading their troops" the priest surmised "They will not strike until they have done so"

"Orders sir"

"Launch the drop pods and prepare to defend" he ordered "Have they begun jamming communications yet?"

"Yes sir" another serf replied "They are jamming all of the planets communications"

"But not ours" he muttered "Send a distress signal"

"My lord, won't that give away our position"

"There is a rebellion taking place in the Manda-Room Merchant Route, barely three light years away" the Priest explained simply "Alliance forces are streaming through this area of space, a taskforce is bound to hear us" he was beside the serf then, his visors shinning red in the low light "Send the signal boy"

"The pods are ready for launch"

"Launch them"

------

The pods exploded from the atmosphere like miniature comets, falling towards the earth like blazing stones. They struck. Smashing into the ground, kicking up shattered rock and dust as they dug into the soil and latched down, the walls of the pods fell away, and they appeared.

Four space marines per pod exited as the walls fell away, at their lead was Wolfsbane, armed with his holstered bolt pistol and sheathed sword, next came his three marines, two wielding simple bolters, the other lugging their much larger cousin, a storm bolter. Twenty meters away was another pod, its occupant marines dragging heavy equipment with them, two missile launchers and another two plasma guns.

As his men assembled around him the captain inspected the surroundings, his pods appeared to have slammed into the top of a cliff, its surface flat. He cursed lightly under his breath, this was the worst area to land. There was no natural cover other than a few outcroppings of rock. Luckily there didn't seem to be any enemy troops around to exploit it.

"All units sound off" his second in command shouted.

"Unit two here!"

"Unit one ready"

"Unit three assembled"

"Unit five here"

"Unit six here"

"Where's unit four?"

There was no answer, not even on the helms wireless, growling the sergeant turned his headset to maximum distance, if the missing unit was within the vicinity they would hear him. For a moment there was static, then a sudden explosion of metallic sound assaulted his ears, he tried again.

"Unit four, report!"

"This is unit four sir" a scratchy voice replied over the com "Looks like our pod hit some hollow ground, we punched through to some kind of cave network. There are dwellings carved into the rock, looks like we've landed right on top of one of these xenos cities"

"What's your status?"

"All team members are a little shaken, but no casualties" there was silence for a moment before he spoke again "We're hearing gunfire sir, voices as well"

------

"Orders are the same brother" the captain's voice resonated over his headset "Search and destroy all enemy forces"

"Understood Brother-Captain" he replied, absently chambering a round into his bolter before turning to his three brothers in arms "You heard brothers, move out, standard sweep formation, look for survivors and any sign of hostile forces"

His unit nodded before moving out. Their pod had smashed through the roof of the mountain, landing on a crevice of rock three meters from a smooth cave floor which he guessed was a road. On all sides there were dwellings, homes carved into the rock walls.

"Fan out" the lead marine ordered "Search the area"

The marines nodded and split up, each warrior taking a house and searching within. Jazz Tanner had been a Space Marine for over thirty years. He had participated in many battles across the mighty Imperium's breadth. Faced off against almost every enemy, he had seen many comrades die in the name of the emperor and had become a more hardened soldier because of it.

As he pressed against the stone wall of a dwelling he noticed that the front door had been forced open, its lock shattered and its hinges twisted. Inside the dwelling was a mess of destroyed furniture, cupboards had been opened and their contents thrown carelessly across the room. He slowly moved further into the alien home, his bolter ready at a moments notice.

Then he noticed a body, a male alien lay where he fell, a burned mark through his chest, his hands still holding a lead pipe. Another body lay half visible in the other room, its slender figure more feminine, but she had met the same fate as the male. He clicked on his com and switched it to unit frequency.

"The place has been sacked" he reported "And the dead have been left where they have fallen"

"It appears to be the same everywhere" one of his brothers answered.

"Sir" another said over the com "I'm hearing gunfire to the east, seems like a skirmish of some sort"

"Assemble in the street brothers" Tanner ordered, turning to leave the sacked premises "We've found our targets!"

The four met up outside and began to move down the road, their eyes and helm sensors on a constant alert for any enemy presence. The further they went the more the destruction became clear, several dwellings were on fire, others had been partially demolished, bodies and debris lay everywhere, mostly of the alien inhabitants of the city but also other, less welcome sights.

"Droids" Tanner spat with venom, watching the sparking remains of a robot of some kind, the scene was enough to bring his blood to a boil "Whoever these heretics are they clearly have no honour, letting machines fight for them"

The sight seemed to have an effect on his unit as well. Brother Saxons began whispering an ancient prayer to the emperor, asking for strength and victory in the battle to come. Brother Somme remained silent, but clicked a round into his storm bolter. Brother Ross was even less conspicuous, walking up to the droids remains, slamming his steel boot on top off its head, crushing it.

"Form up and stay alert" Tanner growled and immediately his unit reformed into a diamond formation, each member covering a ninety degree angle. The blaster fire and explosions got closer, telling him that they were going in the right direction.

The ruins of a structure came up. Its second floor foundations completely destroyed causing the entire section to tilt. Tanner jumped up on top of the fallen floor and quickly scaled it, coming up on the remains of a wall. He took cover behind it and glanced over the side. Beyond was a courtyard, a circular fountain at its centre. The centre was surrounded by droids, black carapace armoured, skeletal bodies holding standard issue blaster rifles.

He raised his hand and waved, the rest of his squad was beside him. Somme leaned his storm bolter against the remains of the wall, Ross and Saxons took up positions and aimed their bolters. Tanner took out a pair of binoculars and looked through the sights. The droids were firing continuously upon the crumbling fountain. He saw movement within and zoomed. There were aliens within the fountain, twenty, maybe thirty cowering under the fire.

"Unit four to one" he whispered.

"Go ahead"

"We have found a skirmish in progress. Enemy is AI battle droids with standard issue weaponry, firing upon civilians. Permission to engage"

"Permission granted brother. Blast those little bastards straight to the warp!"

Before the captain finished the unit opened fire, streams of bolter fire struck the rearguard of the droid battalion, dropping a dozen of them before they responded. Twenty of the remaining droids turned to the marines and began to march, blasters firing of crimson bolts upon the marine's entrenched position. Tanner ducked as several bolts slammed into his position, scorching the stone. Somme continued to fire his storm bolter, ignoring the blaster bolt as it struck his shoulder plate.

"We are under heavy fire" Tanner muttered into his com "When can we expect some backup?"

"Now Brother"

On cue the opposite sector of the courtyard exploded with bolter shells and plasma streams. Over three quarters of the enemy had been decimated by the end of the second volley with the last few taken out with overwhelming suppression fire. Through the sparking remains Tanner saw the huge silhouette of his captain stalk uncaringly into the courtyard, kicking a severed head as he walked.

------

Wolfsbane stalked through the aftermath of the battlefield, his bolt pistol held casually in his right hand, his cloak of wolfs fur billowing behind him as he walked. He raised his pistol and put a round through a single surviving droid, taking off its head and forcing it to fall back onto the ground. He fired another round, hitting the chest plate of another droid which had lost its legs but continued to move.

Then he reached the central fountain and jumped in, landing in a crouch and scanning what welcomed his gaze. The fountain was full of the alien Twi'leks, twenty five of them by his helms scanners. Most of them were unarmed civilians, females and infants, shivering and terrified by both the droids who had been killing them and now by the massive marine. Those around him were shying away from him.

A single child was the only one who didn't cower back, barely six years old by human standards. It wore a dirty pair of robes, with pale green skin. She came shuffling forward and looked him in the eye visors. It cocked its head to the side in curiosity before reaching out with it's…her tiny hands. He reached out with his fist, slowly sweeping her up and holding her protectively to his chest.

"Okay, I am Fenrir Wolfsbane of the Space Wolves, we'll be your rescuers today!" he introduced and looked down to see the child clutching to one of the fur patches covering his armour "Does anyone know the situation!?"

"They just crashed into the city…they started killing people on sight" a cherry red female wearing a skimpy black leather suit stuttered "The militias tried to protect us but they were pushed back, there are skirmishes taking place in the city, I think there's also fighting on the city perimeter"

The captain nodded before looking out onto the wrecked yard, his units were converging "We're going to move you all to a secure location. There's no need to panic"

-------

Panic!

That was all he could see, behind him civilians were running away from the approaching mass of steel, mothers clutching their children as if they were going to vanish at any moment, husbands and males shepherding their families to safety as best they could. They were retreating into the catacombs, a selection of escape tunnels leading deep into the mountains which had been built during the late days of the Galactic Republic.

He and his unit, the 39th Ryloth Defenders were taking cover behind a makeshift barrier of overturned hover-vehicles. Taking a storm of fire from the approaching horde of battle droids, and at their head was an armoured form, a man dressed in pure black armour, wielding a ruby red bladed lightsabre. He advanced at the head of the column, deflecting blaster fire with ease.

A bolt struck the soldier beside him, sending him flying back from the barrier to the ground with bone snapping force. Out of the sixty men under his command only twenty were still able to fight, the others were either dead or being dragged from the scene by civilians trying to help.

Then he saw something which gave him pause, a single civilian draped in a brown cloak was calmly walking towards them, not running from the fight like the others were. The cloak billowed in the smoking winds, showing him that the approaching civilian was a female, her exposed skin was a smooth cerulean blue. She walked to the bottom of the barrier and silently stood there, waiting.

The droids were climbing the barrier now, for everyone shot down another three took its place. He needed to issue a withdrawal. He didn't have the manpower, or the firepower to withstand such an onslaught. The Dark Jedi jumped over his head, clearing the barrier with ease and landing on the other side, barely a meter away from the waiting female. He turned and swung his lightsabre, aiming to decapitate her.

A sapphire blue blade of light exploded from her hands, flying up and blocking the killing stroke. The sergeant could only look on in astonishment, a single word coming to his mind and on the tip of his tongue.

Jedi!

The Jedi locked blades with her dark counterpart, each one putting their weight into their lightsabres. The Dark Jedi batted her blade away and went on the offensive, hacking and slashing wildly, trying to make her lose her footing. But within moments it was clear who was the most skilled. The female moved like a Twi'lek woman should, gracefully spinning and turning, her blade a flurry of motion as she met his advances time after time.

She jumped over him, her lightsabre darting out in quick-draw style, forcing the Dark Jedi on the back foot. She took a step back and raised her hand. The sergeant felt a slight gust of wind before the Dark Jedi flew backwards, slamming into the far wall. She looked up to him, and their eyes locked, beautiful dark brown orbs bored down on him and a single word formed in his mind.

_Withdraw_

before the words started leaving his mouth the Jedi was beside him, standing on the edge of the barricade, her hands outstretched, she looked down on him again "Go captain, I will hold them for as long as I am able"

"You'll be killed" he said.

"If it buys your men time then my death will not be in vein" as she spoke, she released a powerful burst of energy upon the ascending droids, an invisible barrier slammed into them, throwing dozens of them back to the floor. She let out a breath, her exposed arms trembling slightly, she had overexerted herself.

"My thanks lady Jedi but we're not leaving you here to fend for yourself" he retorted, slamming a fresh cartridge into his rifle "We'll deal with these droids, you take care of that bastard over there"

"But-" she started, but was quickly silenced with a glare.

"We are soldiers of the Alliance, these _things_ are slaughtering the innocent, those are our families their killing ma'am!"

She looked at him, her face creased slightly in worry, just as it seemed she was going to reply something happened. She grabbed her throat as if it was being crushed and was thrown from the barricade by some unseen force. She landed hard, slamming into the rock and rolling to a stop. The Dark Jedi was approaching, his hand outstretched in her direction, his other held to the side, waiting as his lightsabre rose telekinetically from the ground and spun into his waiting hand, igniting a moment later.

She struggled against his invisible grip, her hands grasping at her throat. The Dark one seemed to enjoy it, he moved his hand and she was dragged cruelly across the ground at speed, smashing into the barrier, bending the roof of the overturned hovercar she landed on. He swiped his hand and she flew across the air, hitting a far wall with bone jarring force, she let out a squeak of pain. He couldn't watch it anymore. He jumped from his place, aimed his blaster and fired a three shot burst. He deflected them with his lightsabre, not losing his concentration as he continued to squeeze the life from the Jedi who had tried to save them.

The sergeant continued his approach, his rifle held to his shoulder, firing another, more concentrated burst of blaster bolts. This time he had to let go. The Jedi thankfully fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering as air returned to her lungs. The Dark Jedi spun his lightsabre, deflecting or dodging all of his shots. His blaster clicked empty. He threw it away and drew his pistol, firing round after round at the Darkling, watching as each shot was deflected with ease.

His pistol clicked empty, he dropped it and drew his knife, charging towards the Dark Jedi, roaring a primal battlecry from his throat. He had no chance. The Forceling sidestepped his charge as if he were moving in slow motion and impaled him through the stomach with his lightsabre. He heard a cry of sorrow from the Jedi woman before he fell into the abyss.

------

He kicked away the corpse of the Twi'lek soldier and deactivated his lightsabre. His droid forces were overwhelming the surviving soldiers on the barricade. His master would be pleased with this massacre. It would provoke the Alliance on declaring total and complete war on the separatist planets, forcing them to move precious military assets to quell them. All of the evidence would point to the separatist movement, after all the droids were theirs. The warships in orbit were theirs. The blame would be solely theirs.

All that was left was to kill anyone who would have seen them, that meant the soldiers, the fleeing civilians and the Jedi who was shakily getting to her feet, her lightsabre floating into her hands and activating. The death of this scum would please his master to no end, another Jedi corpse on his people's path to glory and conquest.

He approached her wounded form, inspecting her like a predator. A lightsabre death would be too quick. He wanted a little enjoyment. He raised his hand and telekinetically grabbed her throat. She was ready this time and released a force push, weak, but strong enough to make him lose his grip and stumble backwards.

"You are feisty" he muttered "But you are in a hopeless situation, any last words?"

"Yeah" she gasped, a slight smile on her face "Look behind you"

"You think I'm that naïve?" he asked in disbelief.

He stopped as a shadow appeared behind him, causing him to stop and turn. A cold, metallic voice followed "What makes you think she's lying scum?"

Before he knew it a power fist surged forward, imploding his armoured helm and crushing his head. The space marine allowed his body to fall before turning on the barricade and laying waste to it with his bolter, other marines advanced, firing upon the barrier, allowing the last few Twi'lek soldiers to retreat to their ranks.

The marines advanced, and they would not stop until the droid force was completely annihilated. The marine who saved her life towered over her before offering her a hand, she took it, marvelling at how small and delicate her hand seemed to his huge fist.


	10. State of Emergency

_**Chapter 9**_

_**State of Emergency**_

An hour into the fight the distress call from the Space Marine Strike Cruiser _Achilles _reached a passing by taskforce on its way to the Cloak of the Sith. The taskforce of four _Imperial II _Star Destroyers immediately shifted course to the Ryloth system. When they arrived the entire battle was turned around, seeing that they were no match for a fully equipped fleet the three cruisers broke off from orbit and fled into hyperspace, moments later the enemy Star Destroyer, beaten and billowing frozen smoke followed its comrades out of the system. The Alliance taskforce then assembled around the planet, launching their troop contingents upon the contested areas.

From what he heard there were large scale skirmishes taking place within three major cities, plus a land battle in the desert. But from what he saw it was obvious that the Alliance would win the battle, the enemy troops were mostly outdated battle droids and mercenary units.

"This is the entire report captain?" the lead officer of the taskforce asked, her emerald eyes scanning the datapad he had given her. He had heard of this woman, Gabriella Rosso was a captain in Joseph Halos fleet, seemed that she was promoted to Rear-Admiral when she returned from his galaxy.

"Every word" the captain replied impatiently "We were testing a new kind of faster-than-light travel, escorting the involved Tech-Priests and adepts. We came upon this planet, saw that it was under attack and came to their aide. Currently we picked up twenty five survivors who are safe within our medical deck. We will return them to your ships for transport to the surface. We also have a Jedi knight aboard who was injured during the battle"

"I see"

"You may check the information over with Alliance High Command if you do not trust my word Rear-Admiral Rosso"

"No, there's no need" she replied thoughtfully, checking over the report one more time before handing it to an aide "I believe what you say, we will have a heavy shuttle prepped to evacuate the civilians from your vessel"

"It would be appreciated" he said, following her down the sleek, white corridors of her vessel.

"And the Jedi" Rosso asked.

"We will take her back to Ossus ourselves" the marine captain replied "No need for your fleet to divert that far away from where it is needed, with the rebellion in full swing"

"I see"

They entered the hanger bay and the captain saw the large form of his _Thunderhawk _gunship being prepped for the trip back to the _Achilles._ Two of his marines were stationed by the open landing ramp, bolters held against their chests in attention. All around them was a mess of movement, pilots and technicians were busy fuelling and arming the warships assortment of starfighters with speed and precision.

"Well captain I won't keep you back any further" the Rear-Admiral said over the din, holding out her hand "Have a pleasant journey"

"Thank you Rear-Admiral" the captain replied, accepting her hand "Although I would rather not leave a fight half finished"

------

"Well Brother-Captain will they require our assistance" Falcourt asked as his commander descended the landing ramp. The hanger was in the process of being locked down for warp insertion, Techs were busy clamping down and deactivating the surrounding starfighters, moving them into compartments running along the gothic walls.

"No" he replied, passing by his second in command and continuing out of the hanger bay "They assure me they have the situation under control"

"I see" the Sergeant said as he fell into pace behind his commander, just ahead of the two space marine's assigned as his personal guard "So what will we do about the Jedi"

"Where is she now?" he asked.

"In the medical bay being looked at by the Apothecary" the sergeant answered, looking at a datapad "According to his diagnosis she had been thrown around roughly. The fight cracked two ribs, tore a muscle in her lower back and gave her a mild concussion"

"I see, keep me posted on her condition. She is our responsibility until we reach Ossus"

"She wishes to see you sir" Falcourt said suddenly "It was one of the first things she asked for when she was carried into the medical bay"

"Do we have any information on her?"

"Yes sir" Falcourt replied, noticing that the captain had changed his original route from the bridge to the medical bay "There was no record of her in the archives of the New Jedi Order so the Tech-Priests did a little more in depth search. Her name is Aayla Secura, a resurrected"

------

They had followed the smuggler ship at a distance ever since it left the surface of Roon. Han yawned as he resumed his checks of the _Falcons _hyperdrive and navigational systems, when the ship was in hyperspace there was not much that could be done. It was set on a predetermined course. He leaned back in his chair, watching for any changes in the speed of the craft they were pursuing.

His nose picked up a sweet aroma and he swivelled around in his chair, smiling when he saw his wife enter with two steaming hot mugs of caf. He took the cup and smiled up at her "Just what I needed"

His wife took her seat in the co-pilots chair, blowing on her caf before taking a sip. Han hesitated before copying her manoeuvre, blowing on his drink before taking a long swig.

"I'm worried Han" he looked over at his wife and felt his heart sink at the tired look on her face, obviously first Jaina and now Anakin being kidnapped was having a bad effect on her "I feel like I might not ever see them again and it scares me"

Han leaned over and placed his hand over hers, offering her a reassuring smile that he didn't feel "We'll get them back, those kids have been in danger from something since they were born. The Empire, Palpatine, the Yuuzhan Vong, they always came out of it alright"

It was the wrong thing to say, Anakin had died during the Yuuzhan Vong war and the effect it left on Jacen was probably what made him turn his back on the Jedi Order in the first place. Still Leia turned to him, a brave smile adorning her lips "I hope you're right"

"Of course I am" Han replied with his trademark lopsided grin "What would Chewie say if he were still here" even though the Wookiee had died at the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong war Leia couldn't help but smile at his memory.

"He would growl and complain about how much trouble those kids are, and then tear half the galaxy apart looking for them" she giggled slightly.

"Yeah" he replied with a sad smile "He would"

"But I can't sense them Han" Leia suddenly said "That's what's scaring me"

"Their not-" he started worriedly before being silenced by a look.

"No, their not dead Han" Leia replied "It's like something is blocking me, it's like there's a bubble around that freighter stopping me from getting in"

"That only means one thing" Han snarled "Those slemos have anti-force weapons as well"

"They are well equipped" Leia surmised before looking at the navigation displays, taking another sip from her mug "And that makes them especially dangerous, if they can negate the powers of both forcelings and psykers then they will have the advantage whatever way you look at it"

"Only if they surprise us sweetheart" Han replied, taking a sip, he stopped suddenly, eyes wide. Warning alarms blared throughout the bridge and the former smuggler shot forward in his chair, the cup of caf falling from his lap and spilling its contents onto the deck, he began pulling back the hyperdrive gears sharply.

"What are you doing?" Leia asked in surprise, grabbing a hold of her chair to stop herself from flying forward as the ship slowed.

"They're slowing down" her husband explained quickly, pushing runes and pulling back another throttle lever "They're coming out of hyperspace!"

The _Falcon _exited hyperspace to find nothing but the darkness of real-space stretched out before them. No sun, no star system, nothing within sight. Han pulled up a holographic image of the freighter, watching as it came to a sudden stop and wait. He pushed several more runes, shutting down the engines and everything but the most basic systems.

It was then that Ishta and Marcus stalked into the chamber, both fully dressed and armed, the Inquisition agent starred murderously at the image of the freighter before laying a cool gaze upon Han.

He shrugged "They stopped"

"Then now's our chance" he snarled "Lets take that freighter and interrogate the pilot!"

"No" Leia replied, ignoring the agents murderous stare "This is obviously a rendezvous point, we wait then follow whatever ship appears"

"What about Chadaara" Ishta asked "We can't just leave her on that ship!"

"Your right" Han countered "But in order to find the others it is the best course of action to wait and see!"

An alarm blared. There was a great flash in the distance. No need for any holographic magnification, they could all see the other vessel clearly. It was a Star Dreadnought, a nineteen kilometre long sword shaped behemoth, its hull painted matt black and its many weapon emplacements adorning its hull. A single heavy assault shuttle, _Lambda-class_,soared through the mammoth hanger bay.

"Force you gotta be kidding me" Han cursed, then he noticed movement on the command ships hull and magnified. The hull was covered with small four legged creatures, no, not creatures, droids! Dozens and dozens of old Clone Wars era Droid Starfighters, six of which unclamped themselves from the armoured hull and flew after the shuttle, creating a defensive vanguard as she approached the small freighter.

"That thing is covered with Droid Starfighters" Han breathed "This isn't good"

"How many" Marcus asked.

"Hundreds, maybe thousands considering the size of the ship their hitching a ride on" Solo answered before turning to Leia "Send the image to Alliance High Command. They need to be warned about what they're going up against"

Leia nodded and began inputting the code. The assault shuttle had slowed to a crawl, docking with the freighter, the six droids taking up hovering positions around the two, stopping any chance of escape.

-------

Footfalls echoed in the distance, bouncing off the steel walls of the enclosed space. At this moment her head felt like a drum being beaten by sticks, a continuous pain rocketing through her skull. She had been locked away in a small chamber which she considered was not originally designed as a prison. The lights had been dimmed to their lowest setting, creating an eerie twilight which her senses had been forced to adjust to.

She doused the sudden rise of panic and fell upon her training for support. She assessed her situation and condition. The throbbing pain, the dizziness and light-headedness were all symptoms of a concussion, of what level was still unknown to her. After all she was not trained in the arts of the healer. Her wrists and ankles had been bound by force-cuffs, attached to chains which were attached to clamps to the walls. The chains had been tightened, allowing her almost no freedom of movement.

She was not the strongest forceling in the Jedi order by a huge margin, but forcing a pair of cuffs open was within her abilities. She closed her eyes and concentrated, looking for the currents of the force to aide her. But there was nothing, she felt nothing. The panic started to rise again, yet she still managed to quell it. She took a deep breath and tried again, as she strained herself further the pounding in her skull intensified until it was nearly unbearable.

She let out a scream, a violent mixture of pain and frustration before she released her connection. She was unable to access the force. Now her panic was getting harder to subdue. She had known the force to some degree for her whole life, to be unable to call upon it was terrifying.

The footballs came to a halt, she could hear the feint jingle of keys. The door rose up from its place. Harsh white light sliced into the chamber, violently and cruelly attacking her senses. She closed her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth as the bright light caused blotches to appear in her vision.

She could hear five sets of footfalls enter the chamber, each coming to a stop a few feet away from her. One spoke, a gravelly voice "Is this her?"

One took a step closer. She felt a foot impact harshly against her lower abdomen, threatening to crack a rib. She whimpered "Yeah, this is the one. She was feisty, broke my boy Brax's nose"

"And I'd happily do it again" she grunted and received a slap across the cheek.

"Stay silent Jedi whore" he growled before turning to the others "Those animals you supplied us did the job well"

Her vision had returned to her. There were two smugglers and three others in the chamber. The smugglers were a tall, lanky human who had the glint of a murderer in his eyes and a Rodian with a long scar across his left cheek. The human had an animal coiled around his neck, a lizard like creature. The other three were concealed in hooded cloaks.

Finally she recognised the creature and her stomach sank, Ysalamir, no wonder she couldn't call upon the force. The Ysalamir created force repelling bubbles around themselves, making any attempt to call upon its power fruitless. The Yuuzhan Vong used them to great effect during the last war.

"Is this the only one you managed to capture" the central figure asked, looking to his comrade to the left.

"Yeah" the smuggler replied "But I heard you managed to capture most of the others"

"Good, good" he replied, turning around and making to leave the space, he placed a hand on one of his subordinates shoulders. There was a flash of movement and the cloak was thrown off, revealing the nightmarish form of a Dark Eldar warrior, wearing his black mesh armour with purple trim, his face a pale ghostly visage with a topknot of black hair.

He aimed his splinter rifle and squeezed the trigger. The human's eyes went wide before he fell forward, a mass of miniscule crystals dug into his back. The Rodian spun, drawing his blaster pistol but the Dark kin was far too fast and within a matter of moments he too fell to the ground, joining his boss in death.

The other walked forward, also throwing his cloak aside to show the black armoured form of another Dark Eldar, this one wearing his spiked helm. Chained and helpless Chaadara could do nothing as the fallen Eldar slammed the butt of his splinter pistol into the side of her neck. She gave a grunt of pain before the darkness took her again.

------

Han watched as the heavy shuttle detached from the freighter and began its descent to the hanger of the massive Star Dreadnought towering over them. The six starfighters surrounding the shuttle broke away, flying at maximum safety speed to their mother ship before landing and digging into the hull. As the shuttle disappeared into the gapping maw of the hanger the titanic battleship began to move away.

"Leia follow that dreadnought" Han said quickly.

His wife nodded and immediately set to work, using all of her skill to hack into the mainframe and mimick the much larger warships jump coordinates. She was silent for several seconds, completely determined on her task "Got it"

"Hold on" Leia muttered, peering over the co-pilots station "They're powering up one of the main batteries"

On the far left side of the warship one of the massive Turbolance batteries swivelled around, locking onto the floating form of the freighter. Its barrels began to glow with highly volatile green light before it fired. The lance of emerald light punctured the hull of the smaller freighter, causing it to explode in a hail of fire and debris. Before the flames were put out by the vacuum of space the Star Dreadnought was on the move, pulling away from the burning remains.

"Force me"

"Forget it" Han replied "Follow that ship"

As he spoke the six droids gripped onto the hull of the huge battleship, allowing the Star Dreadnought to disappear into hyperspace, followed a few moments later by the _Millennium Falcon_. Han gritted his teeth. This promised to be more dangerous than he originally thought.

------

"I hear that you wish to speak with me" Wolfsbane asked as he stood at the edge of the medical bed, watching as the Apothecary applied bandages to the female xenos abdomen. The Jedi was sitting on the bed, garbed in a simple hospital gown to make it easier for the healer to get at her wounds. Even as he spoke the space marine mused on how human she actually looked.

"Yes I do captain" Aayla replied "I have come here to ask for your help"

"Oh" the captain replied with a raised brow "This is not our territory milady, perhaps it would be better if you asked the Alliance Starfleet"

"It is" the resurrected replied "But for this I want the best, and I want them quickly"

"Go on"

"As you know there is a rebellion going on"

"Yes"

"There is more to it than meets the eye" she began "The rebels are equipped with weapons and technology more military grade, even if it is fifty years old or more. They are getting their supplies from someone else, and I feel that this someone else has another purpose behind it. He wants to use this insurrection as an excuse for the Alliance to use up more military power, weakening their defences on more key worlds"

"Go on"

"We came to this conclusion when a number of Jedi went missing, including figures like Jaina Solo, and now Anakin Solo" she continued "And now the existence of a Dark Jedi in this taskforce has added to my suspicion"

"This still means very little to us Jedi" Fenrir said with a heavy sigh "It would still fall within the jurisdiction of the Alliance, and the Emperor is quite adamant about us not interfering unless we have no other choice"

"Anakin Solo was one of a team of Jedi escorting an Inquisition Cadre" Secura added, making the captain stop in his tracks "To date one of her warriors is dead, another and the Inquisitor herself has been captured by the enemy. Like it or not captain you have to get involved, it is no longer an issue of whose jurisdiction it is"

------

In the darkness of space the Star Dreadnought _Phoenix Shadow_ dropped out of hyperspace. Its hordes of freeloading Droid Starfighters detaching from its hull and swarming around her like a flock of birds around their nesting grounds. Ahead of them was a star system, a single young sun orbited by five smaller bodies, two of which were huge gas giants of swirling clouds, another two so close to their sun that they were unliveable to any organic life, and a single planet in between in just the right place.

This world was an unknown, never had it been found by explorers or placed in any star charts, for this planet was an ancient store house, a cache of weapons and starships left over from the days of the First Sith Empire. In more recent history the planet was discovered by the late Emperor Dantius Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious and turned into one of his many secret storage houses.

It was on this world and the impressive ring shaped shipyards surrounding her that they found the complete form of the _Phoenix Shadow_, as well as many other weapons. Surrounding the planet was the silhouettes of over two hundred warships, ranging from old Trade Federation _Providence-class _Destroyers to _Venator-class _Star Destroyers and far older Sith warships. Not the most modern fleet in the galaxy by a huge margin, but the dark emperor had been experimenting with new technologies before his demise.

As the Star Dreadnought waded through the mass of warships and swarming starfighters it never noticed that another ship had followed in its after burn, completely unnoticed by any of the other starships. The _Millennium Falcon _had exited hyperspace at the same time as the much larger vessel and, through galaxy class flying and a lot of luck had managed to land and secure itself behind the super capital-ships command tower.

Han Solo breathed out a sigh and slumped in his chair, watching with rising dread as a trio of Droid Starfighters passed them by, then relaxed when they rounded the corner "Turn off everything. Right down to emergency systems, no signal, nothing that would go noticed by that mynocks nest out there"

Leia nodded before hitting switches and runes across her control panel, one by one the lighting on the control panels winked out, a dying series of whines represented all major systems as they were shut down one by one.

"How can they get so many" Ishta asked as she watched the silhouettes of a dozen warships floating in the starry darkness.

"It was said that Palpatine had created dozens, maybe hundreds of storehouses on unknown worlds. Even though the New Republic found plenty of them there was always a strong possibility of others out there"

"It was from one of those store worlds that the Resurrected managed to obtain the fleet they used during the Chaos Wars" Leia added "The three _Eclipse _Star Dreadnoughts and the new _Executer _were from one such storehouse" from the looks of the agent and the Farseer she raised an eye brow "What? Did you really think they just appeared out of thin air?"

"Enough" Han muttered tiredly "We can't afford to send a signal, or we'll be discovered…how many zero gravity suits do we have?"

"What are you planning?"

The ex-smuggler swivelled in his chair and winked "I'm going to take a walk"

**Sorry bout the delay, but hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**


	11. The One Who Fell

_**Chapter 10**_

_**The one who Fell**_

Freya was on a knee, bowing lower than she ever had in her life, head down, eyes down, her bottom lip trembling before her masters darkening mood. His force signature was a silhouette of dark emotions. In all of her time serving under him she had never felt such anger.

Larsi was on a knee to her left, the entire left side of her face wrapped in bacta wrap, hiding the burn marks which covered most of her body, from the tip of her lekku to the toes of her leg. She felt the Twi'lek through the force. There was immense pain from her injuries, barely contained hatred for the Eldar witch who had maimed her. But beyond those emotions there was one other, slowly creeping through her being.

It was fear.

"You have failed" the words stung more than the silence, for both Dark Jedi winced at what they heard. Their master's voice was calm and precise, yet there was a darkness behind it which threatened to consume their sanity.

"My lord" Freya began, her mouth and throat feeling as dry as the deserts of Tatooine "We managed to capture four additional Jedi, plus an Inquisitor"

"Yet you managed to allow four of them to escape" her master replied. A pressure fell upon them, covering their bodies completely. Larsi hit the ground with a painful thud, emitting a slight cry. Freya managed to remain kneeling, yet she could not move. Her limbs ached from the pressure. She knew that he could crush them both without batting an eyelash.

"My lord" she half begged "Please"

"You both have failed me" he growled.

She did not even feel Jaser Lee's presence until he stood over them both, his pole unstrapped from his back and held in both hands, he flicked a switch and a curved black of crimson erupted from the top. Sith warrior looked down upon the Dark Jedi, eyes radiating a yellow glow which chilled them both. He was like an executioner.

She looked up to the throne in time to see her master rise and begin to walk down the steps towards them, his boots echoing with every pounding step he took. He reached into the folds and brought out a curved hilt of dull black metal, engraved in golden runes which seemed to emit an eerie ghostly glow on their own. He flicked the switch and a single blade of crimson light came to life with a snap-hiss.

"Master please" she managed, feeling an invisible hand roughly grab her throat and squeeze mercilessly.

He reached out with his free hand and flexed his two middle fingers upward. Both Freya and Larsi were lifted off the floor and hung in midair, their feet dangling a meter off the ground. Both squirming in a fruitless attempt to try and lessen the invisible hands which were strangling them.

Darkclaw felt her vision blur from lack of oxygen, she felt her legs and arms start to turn to lead weights. Yet still she kept her hands clasped around her throat, scraping at her neck even though it was impossible for her to pry herself free. She tried to speak, tried to plead, but she was being choked to the point where her words left her mouth as an incoherent gurgle.

She forced herself to look over to Larsi, only to see her partner in a worse situation. The Twi'lek's bacta wrap had fallen free, showing her burn marks, blotches of pinkish flesh along her lekku, face, arm and leg. Bloodshot red eyes bulging, her mouth open to try and scream but instead was emitting croaks and squeaks. A thin trickle of blood slid down the right corner of her mouth. Yet she continued to resist, her legs kicking out, her body squirming, her hands grasping her throat.

She turned back to look into the eyes of her master. Even when he was this close she could not see his face, just those eyes. Feral slits for irises, glowing a sickly yellow. He waved his hand and she flew several meters, landing on the floor with a painful thump and sliding across its rough surface. The hold was released, and she coughed and sputtered as air returned to her lungs, holding onto her neck and feeling bruises already begin to form.

She looked over to where her master and Jaser were standing, Larsi was still being held in the air, her struggles slowly getting weaker and weaker. From here shadows fell on them both, the only things making it through were those sick yellow eyes, glowing with mirth at the pain they were inflicting, and the fizzling blades of their lightsabres. From here they did not even look human. They were like monsters that would give even a Daemon pause.

"You are watching Archon"

The Dark Eldar lord stepped out of the shadows, dressed in his nightmarish armour of black carapace with purple engraving, his spiked helmet held under his arm, a black cape billowing behind him like a shroud. His armaments of a thin bladed power sword strapped to his hip and a splinter pistol holstered to his side. Without his helm Freya saw his face, a pale form with a defined nose and high cheek bones, his dark eyes glinting in the low light and his black hair tied up into a topknot. A mad Cheshire grin adorned his face, his enjoyment of the spectacle clear.

"This is how you punish your underlings for failure" as her master spoke, he swung his hand and the Twi'lek flew through the air, impacting hard against one of the stone statues and slumping to the floor with a bone cracking thud. He approached as she tried to rise to her hands and knees, his lightsabre deactivated and holstered. He raised his hands, which were sparking with blue energy. When she struggled to her knees he released a blast of force lightning.

The lightning struck and encompassed her, the force behind the charge throwing her on her back, she cried out in pain, curling up into a ball in a feeble attempt to protect herself. He did not weaken his strike. He kept the lightning firmly in place, stopping for but a second before releasing it again.

Her partner's screams awoke Freya from her daze. In a quick motion she psychically pulled on her lightsabre from its place on the holster strapped across her forearm, let the hilt drop into her waiting hand. She heard the clink of the attached chains as she activated the blade, felt its searing heat and heard its constant hiss.

She was on her feet and running then, her partner's cries forcing her on, she raised her blade over her head, releasing a shrill shriek of anger as she charged her master. Her blade met his and the two locked together, sparking and hissing. He had stopped hurting Larsi and in but a flash of movement had called his lightsabre to him and activated it in time to intercept her.

She batted his blade away and spun on her heel, swinging her blade like a meat clever for his head. He blocked it expertly. She pulled off, spun her lightsabre in her hands and attacked in combinations. Left, right, lower left, spin, higher right. All of her strikes were intercepted so expertly she felt like a child with a stick fighting a veteran soldier with a broadsword.

Their blades locked together and he looked into her eyes. She could just make out his facial features, thin face with high, sharp cheek bones. He was not human, but he could have been a dozen other near-human species. In the low light with the reddish hue of their blades it was nearly impossible to tell much else.

He ended it in a blur.

Her lightsabre was ripped from her hands.

She was raised into the air, feet dangling.

He reached out with his hand and shaped it like a claw.

She held onto her throat, feeling the invisible hand tighten around her neck.

He spoke "Anger, good…that's how it should be. You should hate me, loath me, fear me, and eventually become strong enough to kill me. That is the way of the Sith!"

He threw her to the ground roughly and turned back to Larsi. Freya tried to rise but a heavy weight held her down, a curved blade appeared just above her neck. It was Jaser, looking down at her with a feral snarl and a murderous glare. He had stood there, motionless, the entire time.

She was about to try again when she looked up to see her partner stare at her. The Twi'lek's gaze was glazed over in pain, yet they were still lucid enough to look at her. Pullo opened their link, that special link they shared since they're capture and nightmare in the clutches of Chaos. If they hadn't been there for each other they would not have come out of there with even the slightest concept of sanity.

_Don't…stay back!_

Her only words, yet she felt the fear. It wasn't for herself, it was for Freya. Darkclaw closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as her master started again. Larsi's screams filled the air anew, and as time went on those cries became weaker and weaker until they stopped altogether.

Her master hid his still sparking hands behind his robes, turned and walked away. Freya forced herself to look up. Her companion's body lay limply on the floor, her form smocking from the torture which claimed her life. She starred at her master with malice and barely contained hatred. He simply starred back, his enshrouded face unreadable once again.

The Dark Eldar lord broke the silence, cackling like a mad animal.

"A most excellent display" he clapped his hands together, the sounds reverberating through the chamber.

The Sith lord ignored his ally "Come" he said.

Three new presences appeared around him, each one forming the points of a triangle around their master, all three figures kneeled, their heads down, eyes closed.

"Rise"

They rose.

"He is here"

"Yes my lord"

He barely gave Freya a glance "Take her from my sight"

------

Slowly Anakin opened his eyes, seeing a world of nightmares stretched out before him. The chamber they were in was made of blackish stone with a single table of black marble dominating the centre, on the walls were chained forms, many chained forms. For but a moment he thought that they were all dead. But then he saw a few of them move.

"Anakin" the word was weak. He slowly turned his head to see who had called him.

"Jaina" he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. His sister was chained beside him, her jumpsuit torn to the point where it was just hanging onto her. Her body was bruised, cut in several places, like some possessed madman had had his way with her for months, let alone the couple of weeks that she had gone missing.

"It is you" she whispered weakly, a small smile on her lips before closing her bruised eyes "Thank goodness"

"Jaina" Anakin called in desperation "Jaina!"

She did not answer.

He felt anger roll through him in waves, yet he could tell that the force was well out of his reach. He had enough experiences with anti-force creatures to tell that Ysalamir were within the chamber. He quietly closed his connection and opened up the other. He felt a great fire, so much more violent than the quiet strength of the force.

He knew the subtle changes to himself when he called upon the warp, even though he had never used it since that one time. His eyes would change from the ice blue to a flaming red. His pupils would turn into feral slits. The wrappings around his left hand, covered in black anti-warp runes would slowly come undone. His incisor teeth would lengthen and sharpen.

"Anakin, not yet" he heard Gabriel's voice and saw his master chained to the wall a few meters to his right "Not yet"

Begrudgingly Anakin obeyed, he forced the connection to close and looked at his master questionably. Just as his facial features returned to normal the black double doors opened with a creak and a group of individuals entered. Leading this group was an Eldar, lean and sickly with pale skin and a bald head, he wore light dark purple armour, an assortment of combat and medical blades attached to several belts. Following him where two warriors in full dark armour, splinter rifle slung across their right shoulders and an assortment of pistols and blades sealed in holsters and belts.

The Homunculus stalked towards them, a glint in his maniacal eyes "Yes, yes, these two will do perfectly…I was beginning to worry that my employer had given up on my research!"

He reached up and roughly grabbed Anakin's chin, making him look straight into the Darklings insane eyes, he didn't hesitate, he spat in his face. The Homunculus wiped the spit away and grinned "Yes, yes, I can see the resemblance, that girl there…your sister wasn't it? She did the exact same thing when we first met…not much fight in her now. I was beginning to get bored"

"Sith you" Anakin spat "I swear before this day is out I will take great pleasure in ending your life!"

"Such fire" the Eldar said with a grin "Let's see how long that lasts"

"What have you done with the Inquisitor?" Gabriel questioned.

"Oh her" the Eldar muttered nonchalantly "Hmm, she and her companion have been moved elsewhere, you see we couldn't have the two of you together. It seems that anti-force and anti-warp weapons cancel each other out when within proximity" he broke into a mad cackle "How ironic it is, even their countermeasures destroy each other!"

"That's enough" another entered the chamber, this one garbed in the black robes of a Sith "You speak too much Darkfinger!"

"What are these worms going to do, they're locked up and their powers have been sealed thanks to your little pets"

"Never underestimate a Jedi" was the newcomers reply "They have a habit of pulling off the impossible"

"You should know" the Homunculus whispered "You were one once"

"Yes" he replied with sad reminiscence "Yes I was"

He looked upon Anakin for but a moment before raising his hands and pulling back his hood. There was no mistaking who it was. Jacen Solo looked upon them with fathomless eyes "Hello little brother"

**Sorry for the long wait folks, just sort of had another idea for a story and had to put it on paper, anyway after this I'm gonna have a questions and answers session, just like the one for the Thirteenth. Its basically for anyone who want's to point out anything or just has a few ideas they'd like to put forward. Anyway hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. In the Eyes of the Beholder

_**Chapter 11**_

_**In the Eyes of the Beholder**_

The _Achilles _exited the warp in an explosion of multicoloured energy, like it was an ancient underwater craft breaking through to the surface. In the far distance was the spiked disk like mass of a star system, a large spherical sun dominating its centre.

Ahead of it, lying in formation was a fleet of six _Imperial-class _Star Destroyers and a single _Decisive-class _Star Cruiser. This was but one of several naval squadrons dispatched by the GADF, the Galactic Alliance Defence Forces, to monitor the rebellious systems and to stop anything from leaving to the larger galactic theatre.

Fenrir Wolfsbane watched the fleet on the main monitor as they shifted course to check the residual energy left by their conversion from the warp to realspace. They would be scanned, hailed and asked what they were doing so close to a contested Alliance system. His gaze swept across the small form standing beside him, and he noticed that even though she had been on this vessel for nearly nine hours the serfs still eyed her with caution.

"We are being scanned my lord" one of the serfs said from his station "They have armed their weapons, a squadron of fighters has been dispatched from the frontal destroyer"

The Captain watched as a secondary monitor showed a force of nine X-Wings flying towards them in formations of three. Their s-foil wings closed to give them incredible bursts of speed. The fighters did not slow as they came across the next generation Space Marine Frigate, the three units broke off and blasted past them, then began turning around for another pass.

"We are being hailed from the flagship" a serf reported "An Admiral Foller"

"Put it through"

An alien appeared on the monitor, dressed in the white uniform of an Admiral of the GADF, he was a Mon Calamari. The Admiral cleared his throat, if it was a throat, and spoke in a watery voice "I am Admiral Foller of the 11th Alliance Outer-Rim Fleet, to unknown vessel, respond"

"This is Captain Wolfsbane of his majesties Imperium" the huge marine replied "I have a message signed by the Master Inquisitor of the Inquisition and the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance for Grand Admiral Joseph Halos"

------

Jacen Solo stalked down the passageway towards the main chamber, not giving his escort a glance. They however were starring at him with expressions of contempt. All three were women, members of this Sith lords honour guard. The Thirteen if he remembered. What an out-of-date name, more like the eight, four were confirmed dead and another had been imprisoned for attempting to kill her master.

As he entered the chamber he spoke, his words echoing through the vast confines to the throne which the Sith lord sat "The skill and loyalty of your warriors leaves a little to be desired, lord of the Sith"

"Don't be impudent boy" he replied harshly "You, who has not even been granted a title of Darth has no right to lecture me!"

"Ah, but the one I represent does" Jacen replied with a small smile, his eyes glowing slightly yellowy in response to the elder lords threatening words "And he is not pleased with your progress, Dark lord of the Sith. In fact he is disappointed that you have caused such a fuss"

"Be silent, you may be the favourite plaything of the Emperor but that does not give you the authority to challenge me, boy" he added the last word like an insult "Other apprentices have been killed for lesser acts of disrespect"

He snapped his fingers, the three Dark Jedi blurred into action, all three drawing their lightsabres in unison. It all happened in a blur. They activated their lightsabres and blazing blades of crimson lanced through the black robed form of Jacen solo.

The darklings blinked and all that was left was his cloak. He reappeared behind one and as she turned struck her with an uppercut which sent her up into the air. The other stabbed out with her lightsabre, only to see him sidestep and deliver an elbow to her face, there was a crack of broken bones as she too was sent flying back. The last one could barely register him with her senses, one moment he was there, the next he was behind her. She spun, only to be greeted by an open handed strike to her abdomen, he released a force push, throwing her back and slamming her form against the nearest pillar.

This entire skirmish lasted for two seconds and his last opponent was being thrown through the air before the first landed on the floor.

"You" the lord spat, his eyes turning from yellow to a rage filled red "You worm!"

"Darth Ravenus" Jacen started, his voice one of authority as he walked past the groaning Darklings to pick up his cloak "You have greatly displeased our master, be thankful he sent a messenger instead of a Death Squad" he placed his cloak back on his shoulders "A messenger, and as of this moment your observer"

"What" the Sith asked in disbelief "You, an apprentice are my observer?"

"Can't be helped old man" Jacen replied nonchalantly "All with a rank of warrior and above are busy, so he sent me instead. Is that a problem?" he turned and walked away before Ravenus could even reply, nearly sending the lord into a silent fume of rage "Oh, PS, there will be no more reinforcements sent until results are made, so use your remaining pawns sparingly"

He motioned to the Dark Jedi, unconscious on the floor before leaving.

------

The guard in the central fortress was tight. There was a unit of Sith soldiers on every floor. Getting by them would take incredible feats of stealth and precision, or near perfect mastery of silent assassination. Luckily there was not just one, but three who were trained for such a purpose.

One was Ishta, who through her long years of training and experience as a Warlock of Ulthwe had gained the skills and experience of the most adept assassin. Her black armour was state of the art, incorporating cloaking technology more advanced than anything the Alliance or Imperium could conjure, all that one would see of her was a split second shimmer before she passed them. Her skills in the warp also allowed her to cover her own signature, making her seem like a ghost to any warpling, or forceling within range.

Marcus was another, an agent of the Inquisition he had spent time honing his powers, he could phase through walls, completely mask his presence and those of whom he wished from the enemies sight. His long experience on Chaos infested worlds meant that he was an expert at hiding himself from his enemies, and equally able to kill anyone as silently as if it never happened.

Finally there was Alana, she wasn't as skilled or as experienced as either the others. But her abilities with the force gave her a distinct ability. It was a difficult technique, one which took her years to master. But she could summon and control the force enough to bend light around her, making her as good as invisible to the eye. This technique, Force Cloak, was one of the oldest and most difficult to learn, but she had mastered it just enough for the task at hand.

It was difficult to get to the planet's surface, even with the mass of illegal modifications made to the _Millennium Falcon _it took incredibly subtle flying to mask the small freighter in the after burn of a much larger bulk transport. It took even more effort for the Jedi and Psykers to shield it from any forceling or warp beings. Passing by the orbital and anti-air defences also took a great deal of effort, so much that when it was finished Ishta looked physically exhausted and Marcus was covered in sheen of sweat.

They left Han and Leia to keep the _Falcon _hidden as they infiltrated the fortress.

Finally the three of them came together in a deserted hallway, ahead of them was a fork in the road, one went straight onward, but two separate hallways broke off.

"This is where we split up I suppose" Alana frowned.

"Good" Marcus chuckled, turning to a wall and placing his hand on the surface, the metal rippled as he began to phase through it "I will continue straight, can't allow you two to slow me down all day"

Ishta frowned before moving on, Alana remained and looked the Inquisition agent in the eye "Be careful"

He looked at her with mildly surprised eyes before nodding "Same to you little one"

And like that he was gone, leaving only Alana and Ishta in the hallway "Stay in contact with me at all times" the Farseer ordered "If there is any sign of danger, or a trap get away. I will come to your aide"

Alana placed a hand on the larger Eldar's shoulders "I will be fine Ishta, go on"

The Eldar hesitated, nodded and vanished in midair, all Alana could see of her mentor was a shimmer as she disappeared down the corridor. Right, she thought as she fell back into her semi-meditative trance, bending the light around her once again, before moving hurriedly down the corridor.

------

"The parasites have been found"

Ravenus looked up from his throne into his apprentice's eyes "How many?"

"Three" Lee replied "I can sense them, they are very skilled at masking their presences but I can sense them. Two are powerful, one extremely so, but the other is average"

"The Jedi girl is of no consequence" the Sith lord rasped "The threat lies with that Eldar witch and Inquisition dog, they must be taken care off"

"I agree" Jaser replied, swinging the un-ignited pole of his lightsabre over his shoulder and gripping it with a single hand "Give me my orders master, I am at your command"

"Yes" he replied thoughtfully before rising "You will take care of the Jedi girl, an easy target for you, use one of her companions as bait" he then turned to the shadows "I trust you can deal with the Inquisition dog, Archon"

"Of course" the Dark Eldar lord whispered "Leave him to me. It has been years since we have faced a Psyker of his strength"

"We'll send Solo after the witch" Ravenus finished.

"Is he a match for her?"

"Undoubtedly" the Sith replied "But I would rather see him die. Send Aluma, Dresa and Nel Le to shadow him. They have orders to kill the winner" he hesitated for a moment "Wynn, Mercedes, Tyn, August" he called the names and another four warriors appeared before him, heads bowed in submission "You will remain with me. Now go"

------

He looked over the report for the ninth time and shook his head "You're sure about this?"

"Positive" Foller replied "We gained these images two hours ago. I didn't believe them at first myself. But I sent a handful of stealth drones into the system to check"

"And?"

"Worse than we feared" the Mon Calamari answered "There has to be at least five hundred warships defending that planet, ninety of which can be considered capital-ships. It will take more naval power than we currently have at our disposal"

"Your thinking in terms of numbers my friend" Halos said "Think in terms of quality and ship-to-ship firepower. Even though we would be outnumbered three to one we would still have the advantage"

"Of course Grand Admiral"

"I will be there within the hour. Once our fleets converge we will attack. I already have approval from the Chief of State and the Grand Admiralty to quell this rebellion. Once we take out the main force the rest of the planets should fall back in line" he rose from his chair "How long before your forces assemble?"

"I will be expecting the last two squadrons within the next half hour" the Mon Cal answered "We will be ready when you arrive…what about the Space Marine Frigate"

"Do they want in?"

"They wish to fight alongside us"

"Then let them" Halos replied "It would be a good test of the combat capabilities of their new Frigate, I bet that's what their commander is thinking"

"Yes sir"

"See you there Admiral" Joseph said and turned off the com, he then sagged back into his chair. Even in the middle of such a catastrophe one thing wouldn't leave his mind. Robyn had been captured. Her fate was unknown, that fact screamed into his ears. Shaking his head he forced himself out of his chair and, clasping his hands behind the small of his back walked over to the main view screen of his personal quarters.

_Robyn_

------

Her scream was shrill and echoed through the walls of the torture chamber, a beautiful symphony to his ears. How he loved torturing humans. Many Homunculi found Mon'Kiegh far too frail of mind and soul for their liking. But he knew secrets others didn't. He knew how to keep these lesser creatures sane and in agony for hours, days, even weeks on end.

He looked over the woman's body again, enjoying every cry he got from her lips, enjoying the look of hatred he got from the other chained to the wall. The Inquisitor looked like a wounded animal, like she was about to try and claw her way out of her restraints and attack him. He loved that look.

"What do you think Mon'Kiegh" Darkfinger asked "See your underling convulse in pain and know that you are next"

"Touch her again" Robyn started, her voice a rasp "And you're dead"

"Hmm" the Homunculi hummed, placing his bloodied needle back into his tray, Robyn was glad he had stopped, she doubted Lara could withstand much more. Even with assassins of Chrysler's skill there were limits, and this scum had nearly breached them.

"I said" she repeated, her eyes alight with fire "Touch her again xeno scum, and I will take great pleasure in dissecting you!"

"My…lady" Lara wheezed, ebbing in and out of consciousness "Don't"

"Quiet and be still" Robyn rebuked firmly, but softly before setting her murderous gaze on the Homunculi.

"Why is it that so many of my subjects have a fire" the Darkling asked to himself as he approached her "Its starting to get annoying!"

Her eyes flashed to her restrained wrists for a moment, they had been badly bruised by the way in which she had been restrained. Her whole body had been bruised and bloodied. Yet she could feel that she was nearly ready, her last card was about to come into play.

She counted the amount of people in this black nightmarish version of a hospital surgery, two guards at the door, basic Dark Eldar warriors, the Homunculi and at least three subservient beings, lesser Homunculi she guessed.

He roughly grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look straight at him, his eyes glowing in amusement. The bastard was so sure that he was safe here that it made her want to laugh. She did laugh. It was a small one but the Darkling caught onto it. He slapped her across her bruised left cheek.

"What is so funny" he asked.

She spat out a gob of blood and looked him straight into his filthy eyes. She refused to speak. She just needed a few more seconds. He slapped her again.

"I asked you a question my pet" he sneered.

"Did…did you know what I used to be before I became a member of the Ordo Xenos" she asked, feeling that the time was now to act, he looked at her questioningly "Before I was repositioned there I used to serve in the Ordo Malleus, do you know what I was?"

"Should I care?"

"Yes you should"

The Dark Eldar let out a cackle "Alright, enlighten me"

"Robyn Vallace, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos" there was the slightest metallic scream, and a snap, Darkfinger looked at her chains to see that they had been cut open "Former member of the Ordo Malleus…and retired Master Witch Hunter"

The Homunculi reared back, his eyes wide in surprise as something cut through the restraints like a knife through warm butter. The last three words stuck in his mind. _Master Witch Hunter. _His two guards came forward, Splinter rifles aimed and ready.

"Do you know what my codename was?"

They did not speak as she raised her hands, and through the twilight Darkfinger could swear that he saw wires glimmering from her fingertips. The human smiled a malicious smile before uttering a few more words.

"Razor-wire"

* * *

**Damn, doing two stories at once is exhausting. But thankfully there are only five or six more chapters to go in this one. Special thanks to the amazing chicken diner, RJ Whakamol, GovernorDerekthe2nd, Skipper1337 & mwjen for reviewing on the last chapter, hope you and everyone else reading this enjoy this recent chapter, next one should be in a week or so! :)**


	13. Pawns in a Game

_**Chapter 12**_

_**Pawns in a Game**_

"Razor-wire"

She flicked her wrists and the Homunculi felt a whip of air soar past him, a moment more passed, time seemed to stop. Then he heard the slicing of limbs and the splashing of blood. One of the guards had been sliced to pieces. The top half of his body, his left arm along the elbow, his right leg at the thigh, he fell to the floor with a series of sickening thuds and an explosion of blood and gore.

The other warrior raised his splinter rifle, but wasn't fast enough. The Inquisitor flicked her right wrist and a thin twine of wire sliced through his arms at the elbow, blood exploded from the recently severed appendages as the warrior fell backwards, screaming at his new stumps.

His three assistants charged her with needles and scalpels but they met the same fate as the warriors did. A couple of graceful flicks of her wrist and movements of her arms summoned the wires again. They sliced through the Darklings in an explosion of blood, gore and shattered bone. And in it all was the Inquisitor, untainted by any of the splattering blood.

He sniffed the blood in the air and sighed in elation before going for his sword, strapped to his side just in case he ever needed to silence an experiment quickly. She saw him move and flicked her wrists. There was an explosion of blood. A few moments passed, Robyn remained in her position, as if she had stopped straight in the middle of a dance.

"Oh dear" she whispered, watching the right arm of the Homunculi as it fell to the floor with a sickening, squishy thud "I missed"

The Dark Eldar looked at his arm in shock. It had been severed right along the shoulder blade. Blood poured from the wound, making a pool on the floor. He looked up at the human, feeling true fear for the first time in a very long time.

"My apologies" she said silkily, slowly edging towards him, hands up like she was about to start leading an orchestra "I must be getting rusty. I was aiming for your head"

"You Mon'Kiegh whore" he whispered, coughing up blood.

"Hmm" she hummed, tilting her head to the side in what seemed questioning "I don't think you'll need those limbs anymore"

She flicked her wrists and in the blink of an eye took off his left arm right below the elbow. Another subtle movement and a single wire, coated and dripping in blood sliced through his legs along the knees. The Homunculi fell to the floor, screaming and thrashing in agony.

A foot crashed down on his chest, he coughed up more blood before looking into the Inquisitors eyes and felt true fear rip into his innards. Her eyes were glistening with bloodlust, her smile seemed nightmarish. He looked over to see the last warrior lying limply on the floor, the loss of blood claiming him to the goddess of ecstasy.

"Now then, for every graze and cut you gave my subordinate I will repay you ten times over. Do try and stay conscious for it"

Screaming was all that could be heard after that.

-------

In the darkness Marcus appeared, phasing through the walls as if he were a ghost. The shadows of the flickering torches played across his features, giving him an unnatural look as he started walking down the passageway. He was deep within the catacombs of the fortress, for all he knew he could have passed the mountains base.

He released his power in tiny bursts, seeing every corridor and every life on the level. There were several dozen presences, not one possessed the subtle viciousness of these dark forcelings. Security was tight, tighter on this level than any of the others. He would have to watch his step.

He heard footfalls coming from ahead and backed against a wall, moving through it as if he were submerging himself in water, only a slight ripple was all that gave away his position, and that calmed as the soldier rounded the corner. There were six of them, a security detail.

Five wore simple silver armour with black underlay, holding a military issue blaster in their hands, their helms showed no features of a face, only a smooth surface. The lack of any facial features would make any normal enemy nervous. Not a Psyker of his level though. Not one who could sense every thought and feeling. The sixth wore similar armour but with crimson stripes along the helmet and shoulder pads, he would be an officer, a sergeant or captain most likely.

They passed him without noticing a thing, and within the darkness he grinned, simple beings such as them would never be able to sense him. As they rounded the other corner he walked out of the wall, and made his way down the passageway. It would have been much easier to just cause a ruckus, start killing them and more would show up.

He thought about it for a moment, but dismissed the notion. His master was being held captive. There was no telling what they would do to her if he started a massacre. Finally Marcus came to a huge set of double doors, pure stone by the look of them. He phased through them easily and looked around.

He was in a huge chamber, completely barren of anything, then he looked up, he was in a coliseum. High up were stands where thousands of spectators must have gathered. Now they were completely empty. In fact it looked like it hadn't been used in years. The agent reached into his long coat and produced his two custom Bolt Pistols.

"I know you're here Darkling" he growled.

The shadows began to move, and through the darkness came the lithe form of a Dark Eldar, a lord by his armour and the long bladed sword he held in his hands. A dozen others appeared around him. Their armour as nightmarish and frightening as their lords, they all held long spears, but the agent could see the splinter pistols and knives attached to their belts. They were all Incubi warriors, the elite guard of a Dark Eldar lord. Marcus grinned and began a bout of uncontrollable laughter.

"Excellent" he howled with glee "This is truly excellent"

------

She didn't know he was following her until she came to a cross in the corridor. He had hid himself well, so well that if he didn't let up on his suppression she wouldn't have noticed him at all. She took a few more steps, then stopped and spun around, her cloak billowing from her spin, the sensors in her helm didn't pick up anything, but her psychic abilities did.

For a few moments she stood there in silence. Then in the blink of an eye she drew the witchblade sheathed to her right hip, bringing it up with minimal effort to block a short sword. The black cloaked figure wielding the blade used his weight to push her off balance, and then used the momentum to somersault over her, swinging with his weapon in midair. Ishta's eyes widened, but she didn't let his surprise last, she swept her blade up.

Blood dribbled from a cut to her arm, pooling onto the black floor. She had brought it up instinctively to stop the blade from taking off her head. She looked up to see the assassin starring at her, her own witchblade had grazed his left upper arm. A fact which was apparent by the blood pooling onto the floor, more of the red liquid was dripping from the tip of her sword.

The Farseer looked at her wounded arm, the cut hadn't been very deep, in fact it could have been more of a graze than an actually slash wound.

"Jacen Solo" she greeted coolly "I wish I could say that it was a pleasure"

"Ishta Taldeer" he returned, using his free hand to pull back his hood "I'm flattered you know of me"

"Who wouldn't know one of the most gifted and skilled students of the Jedi" she said "Jacen Solo, son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, grandson of Anakin Skywalker, nephew of Luke Skywalker. Heir to the Jedi Order, there were many who thought you would be the next Grand Master. Officially you were reported missing in action during the Saim-Hann battle, but unofficially you joined the Sith"

"I'm flattered" Jacen replied, his own cool gaze taking in the armoured form of his opponent, his force senses screening her strengths "I also know about you. Wife to Jedi Master Gabriel Sabbath, you have two children, a son and a daughter, Leon and Marie" he saw her tense at their names and flashed a small smile "Because of your feeling for him you were exiled from your Craftworld with nought but a title, now you are considered one of the most valuable anti-warp instructors to the Jedi"

"Is that supposed to impress me" she asked, her power rising by a few levels, the air in the passageway chilled by a noticeable few degrees.

Jacen let out a breath of air, seeing it turn to mist before he released his power to counter, to any warpling or forceling the two were encompassed in two volatile energies. So to the three assassins hiding in the shadows the spectacle was terrifying.

The apprentice sheathed his short sword and clasped the silver hilt of his lightsabre, unclipping it from his belt and activating it with a _snap-hiss_, a crimson blade of flame sprouted forth, flickering and sizzling. Ishta reacted, drawing her second Witchblade and crossing her arms across her chest, the two blades rising up on either side of her face.

In a flash of movement they both moved.

------

That dream continued to penetrate her minds eye as she ran down the corridor. She recognised it. The walls right down to the last crack, the exit up ahead, everything. She recognised it all from her dreams, her visions. Alana kept running until she passed through the exit.

Beyond was a hanger bay, a large one able to rival that of a Star Destroyer. Ships were docked all around her. Small, highly modified freighters and attack craft dominated her view. In the distance was the huge open maw of the exit, beyond was the desert landscape. There were no techs, mechanics or pilots for as far as she could see.

Several blasters were lowered at her and as she looked up she saw that she had run straight into a trap. Nearly two full platoons of Sith Troopers were starring her down, armed with blaster rifles with a pistol and combat vibroknife sheathed to waist belts. Another three black armoured Shadow Guardsmen, armed with double-edged lightsabres stood in the middle of the column.

"We've been expecting you"

Alana looked further back and gasped, there was a figure, hooded and cloaked, a long pole held in his right hand. In front of him, on her knees was Chadaara, beaten and bruised and barely conscious. Alana took a step forward, only to hear the click of twenty four blasters as they were aimed at her.

"Drop your weapon Jedi" one of the Shadow Guards ordered "Drop them now or she dies"

------

The quiet of space was shattered as the combined Alliance fleet exploded from hyperspace.

A large cluster of fleet squadrons all together numbered ten _Liberty-class _Star Cruisers, twelve _Imperial-class _Star Destroyers, eight _Republic-class _Star Destroyers, five _Nebula-class _Star Destroyers, three _Decisive-class _Star Cruisers, one _Achilles-class _War Frigate, nearly two hundred escort frigates and corvettes, and leading them was the massive form of the _Executer-class _Star Dreadnought _Empire Dawn_, the flagship of Grand Admiral Joseph Halos and the Outer-rim fleet.

From the bridge of his flagship Halos looked out over the planet and the mass of starships surrounding it "All ships choose your targets and fire!!!"

As one the fleet of the Galactic Alliance unleashed a powerful opening salvo of weapons fire, within a minute nearly thirty enemy warships were torn asunder with the opening strike. But the remaining mass of warships reacted with deadly efficiency and a return volley was presented.

Halos stood firm upon his command deck, a beckon of unmoveable respect as the enemy attack smacked off the shields. The mighty Turbolance batteries of the Star Dreadnought returned the favour, sending two _Providence _Carriers to the depths of hell with its unlimited firepower.

Halos took in everything around him in a heartbeat. His forces had gained the element of surprise, a very useful advantage when you were outnumbered nearly two to one. But the enemy commander was no slouch. He had reformed the main force and prepared for the second attack, Halos knew he was dealing with a man, or woman whose tactical expertise was impressive.

Well no one wants to live forever, he thought as he ordered his main ship to punch a hole through the main cluster of enemy vessels. The _Empire Dawn _changed its course by a few degrees and punched into the main contingent of defenders, the mammoth warships defensive squadron following suit.

"Who the hell do you think we are" Halos growled as he saw the rebels amass against him "I am Joseph Halos, Grand Admiral of the united military strength of the Galactic Alliance, Second in command of the Imperial Remnant Starfleet, if you defeat me then I will be unworthy of my ranks!"

------

"An enemy fleet" Darth Ravenus asked.

"Yes my lord" the messenger replied "They came from hyperspace and struck our defence forces without warning, we are taking serious casualties in orbit"

"It's a shame" the Sith murmured "This was a fine base while it lasted"

The messenger remained silent, head bowed.

"Order the evacuation" his master ordered calmly "Kindly ask if the orbital forces could hold out a few minutes longer"

"Off course my lord"

**The nightmare is officially over. All of my resit coursework has been redone and resubmitted. Hah I get such a feeling of relief over saying that. **

**On another note I would just like to say how annoyingly temperamental the universities computers and plotters are. I had to plot out eight A1 sheets, should have taken me an hour? Out of the eight only six came out right the first time round, and only one came out right the second time, it took three tries to get it all, taking me three hours to get it from the computer screen to paper. I HATE PLOTTERS!!!**

**Anyway hope you all enjoyed the chapter, another one should be up in the next few weeks, I really want to get this finished and move on. Peace!**


	14. Battle in the Cloak

_**Chapter 13**_

_**Battle in the Cloak**_

To anyone watching the duel unfold it seemed as if the two combatants became blurs of motion, the clangs of Witchblades and the snaps of lightsabres filled the corridor, sending sparks flying. Ishta had fought many Jedi over the years, she was the one who sparred with students and seasoned veterans who wanted to learn how to fight against the dark arts of the warp.

But this Jacen Solo was in a whole other league, he was beyond the Jedi she had tutored. His every move was precise and almost devastatingly accurate. There were times when her counters barely made it in time to block his lightsabre. A foot flew out through her guard, impacting her midsection and sending her soaring through the corridor. She spun in midair and planted her feet on the steel doors she was thrown against, the metal buckled under the impact.

She looked up and in a flash brought up her drawn witchblade to block a thrust, Solo was on her again. His free hand blasted her with a force push, sending her against the steel doors, which finally completely buckled under the sudden pressure. She skidded across the floor, watching the doors crash into the ground around her. She pivoted herself, performed a flawless backward summersault, landed on her feet and skidded to a halt.

She looked up, her visors tracking the heat signature, or trying too. He was moving so fast that her sensors, her technologically advanced sensors couldn't trail him until he was right in front of her. She switched her visual sensors to night vision and saw him, jabbing out with his lightsabre. She deflected his blade, but a force push sent her flying again, she landed on her feet.

Once again her targeting sensors tried to get a lock, but he moved too fast. Instead she drew her second witchblade and waited for him. She was ready this time. She blocked his strike, sidestepped his force push and lashed out with her second sword. She missed him by millimetres, but continued to push on her offence.

Slashing out with both her weapons in intricate strikes and stabs, he ducked and sidestepped every strike with practised ease. His lips creased into a small smirk and his feral yellow eyes glinting with glee. He came to a stop, ducked under her guard and stabbed out with his lightsabre. In a split second Ishta moved her body to the right, felt a searing pain across the right hand side of her face and jumped back.

A spark was her first sign that something was wrong, then the warm liquid tricking down the side of her face. He had cut straight through her helm and seared her skin, it wasn't a direct strike, but it was close enough. The right side crumbled away, showing a single purple eye, strands of milky hair cascaded from the hole.

With a growl she grabbed the helmet and hit eject, there was a puff of air as the safety locks disengaged, allowing her to remove it. Her milky hair cascaded down her back and her purple eyes, alight with fire starred at him with a grim intensity. She threw the helm at the floor.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this" Jacen started with a smirk "But you're pretty hot"

She smirked herself, blowing a strand of hair away from her porcelain face "Thanks, but I'm taken"

"I guess you can fight for real, now that you're helmet's gone" Solo added "It was starting to get old, fighting an enemy who was giving me a handicap"

Ishta looked at him dubiously before smiling "If that's what you want"

Her eyes changed colour from purple to red. A series of tremors shook the underground chamber, and Jacen Solo watched in fascination as a mass of crimson energy encompassed her. Blasts of unnaturally red flame exploded from the energy, all aimed at her opponent. Solo didn't need the force to know that these were as deadly as a fragmentation weapon.

He sprang into action, spinning and sidestepping the blasts as they passed him by, he reached into the force, increasing his speed and stamina threefold. It was in the middle of a midair spin that he saw her, right in front of him. In the blink of an eye she threw her swords. He forced his body to spin and gritted his teeth as they grazed him.

She was below him now, lashing out with her right foot. He crossed his arms in front of him and caught the attack with his right hand. Her left fist came next, which he managed to catch with his left hand. Her eyes were glowing with power by now, so much so that it was unnerving. He saw an opening and took it. He struck out with both feet, catching her in the midsection and sending her falling to the ground.

He took the chance, aimed a force push and fired, the strike hit the Farseer head on and she slammed into the ground with bone shattering intensity. Spitting out a gob of blood she fisted her hands and punched out, releasing a blast of crimson energy. There was no time for him to counter, he took the shot and felt pain rack through his body. He fell to the ground, hitting the stone with a painful thud and a grunt of pain.

Slowly both rose to their feet, panting from their exertions. Ishta fell into a fighting stance, ignoring the light red blood as it dripped onto the stone floor. Jacen did likewise, ignoring the blood trickling down his side, staining his black exo-suit.

------

The Trade Federation Cruiser began a steady spin, small explosions dotting its hull as it was subjugated to the devastating bombardment from the _Empire Dawn_, the main guns of the Super Star Destroyer continued to pound away. They did not stop until the cruiser exploded.

The battle had continued on in the Alliances favour. Caught off guard the rebel forces had lost several dozen ships before they could muster to respond, but Halos predictions proved correct. Against a modern fleet like the one the Grand Admiral had mustered the rebellion didn't have a prayer.

There was just one problem factor in his plan.

It made itself known by the sudden destruction of an old _Imperial _Star Destroyer, its entire form covered in tainted flames as a deadly barrage of weapons fire overpowered her defences.

The enemy Super Star Destroyer stood between them and the planet beyond. A seemingly unbreakable pillar surrounded by a crumbling Rebel battle line, its main guns spewing out green turbolaser lances and firing out masses of torpedoes. Another Star Destroyer, the _Triumphant _had its entire frontal section blown away by a concentrate barrage of weapons fire.

"All ships concentrate fire on that Super Star Destroyer" Halos ordered with a wave of his hand "That is the cornerstone of the enemy fleet, we break her we break them!"

The entire battle squadron opened up upon the Super Star Destroyer and her crumbling capital-ships, yet as her cruisers and carriers fell back the Super Star Destroyer continued firing.

On the bridge of the _Phoenix Shadow _stood one of the most beautiful creatures any man had ever seen. The woman stood on the command deck like an unmoveable stone.

Her uniform was so similar to that worn by Admirals of the old Galactic Empire, yet instead of olive this uniform was black, in complete contrast to her pale skin. She had ruby red eyes, sharp facial features and long hair the colour of brandy and tied in a long ponytail. A black lightsabre hilt was strapped to her waist, a sign to all around her of what she truly was, a Sith Lord.

She looked at the lines of disarrayed ships as they retreated and snarled in disgust. She should have demanded a proper fleet, not a militia force of undisciplined rebels. A fleet of trained soldiers, with a cadre of Sith trained in the arts of Battle Meditation. A ship of the calibre of the _Phoenix Shadow _demanded such a thing.

She looked to her apprentice "Tell that fool that we can hold for but a few more minutes, and then he's on his own!"

------

Marcus dived across the fallen pillar, pulling out his modified bolt pistol as he rolled across its surface and fell into a crouch behind it. A spray of splinter fire struck the stone, sending shards of dust and granite into the air. The Inquisition agent raised his gun and fired three rounds blindly into the blackness.

He knew that his warp powers would be next to useless against these foes, not with those warp blockers they were wearing. He needed to find a way to counter them, and fast. A small metallic ball fell beside him. Cursing he dived away just as the grenade exploded, shrapnel cut into his legs, not deep enough to immobilise him, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch.

He rolled, came up in a crouch and using his left arm to steady his gun fired off another few rounds. The Incubi warrior took it to the face, his head exploding in a mass of shattered bone and blood. Where one fell another two appeared, partially hidden behind two erect pillars, they aimed splinter rifles and fired. He spun away from the miniscule shards, slamming into another pillar and firing his pistol until it clicked empty.

Letting the empty magazine fall he quickly slammed a fresh one. He cursed once again on how he could have ended this fight by know if they didn't have those accursed anti-warp weapons. If it wasn't for his attuned senses he wouldn't have sensed the second Incubi at all. He had come up behind him. A long wicked looking spear held in his hands, he lounged at Marcus.

The agent spun around, sidestepping the bladed end and reached into his coat, pulling out a throwing knife, he jabbed out, stabbing the warrior right in the jugular. As he fell Marcus saw another one behind him and, grabbing the dying Eldar used him as a meat shield. Splinter rounds cut into its comrade, Marcus fired in response, the round blowing a hole in the thirds chest.

"Why isn't he dead yet" the Archon growled, he then looked at the pillars "He's using this damn terrain to his advantage!"

The three warriors he had kept with him nodded, he had sent six after this Psyker, and three were dead already, it was obvious they had seriously underestimated this Mon'Kiegh, a fact which he sorely knew when he heard another series of shots being fired, followed by a cut off cry from another of his Incubi.

------

"Jaina"

A small groan was all he got in reply, and he cursed under his breath. She had been going in and out of consciousness for over an hour, if he didn't do something soon then she would die, through loss of blood. He looked to Gabriel and gained a nod in reply.

"Ok" he conceded "But just enough to break your self free, no more, no less"

Anakin nodded and closed his eyes, reaching deep within the farthest reaches of his mind, searching for that unnatural fire which had burned ever since his resurrection on the _Planet Killer_. A mass of negative feelings rushed over him, almost too many for him to decipher, and just for a moment he considered how Psykers called upon the warp and not go insane.

His incisor teeth elongated to twice their natural size and three times as sharp. The irises of his normally blue eyes turned crimson, and the pupil reformed into thin sickles. The wrappings on his left hand became undone, falling from his form to reveal a human hand and arm, covered in black runes. He focused on the violent power, trying with all his might not to give in.

He focused on the chains, his uncovered arm glowing dank blue, then purple flames encompassed the chains and they snapped, allowing him to fall to the dark stone floor in a heap. He slowly rose to his feet, and with a flick of his wrists the chains keeping both Gabriel and Jaina in place snapped. The Jedi master fell into a crouch, rubbing his raw and bleeding wrists. Jaina fell in a heap, and he rushed over to her.

A moment later Gabriel was beside him "Can you do something about those lizards?"

He snapped his fingers and a half dozen cut off screams symbolised the deaths of the force repelling reptiles hanging over their heads. With a breath of relief Gabriel felt the force return to his mind, and gathered it within himself, clearing his head and rejuvenating his tired muscles.

"Thank you" Gabriel said "You can stop now"

Anakin released the warp, locking it into its corner in his mind and adding several dozen mental barriers to keep it there, he sighed with relief "I hate doing that"

"How is she?" Gabriel asked.

Anakin quickly checked his sisters pulse "She's alive at least, but she needs urgent medical attention"

"Pick her up" Gabriel ordered, rising to his feet "We need to get our weapons back"

He felt a familiar presence and turned to see the thick steel doors open to reveal Robyn, covered in blood and dragging the barely conscious form of her agent into the relative safety of the makeshift cell. She carefully placed Lara in a lying position, turned around to them and reached into her cloak, pulling out a pair of lightsabres and tossing the hilts to them.

"Are you alright" Anakin asked as she handed the weapon to him.

"Oh this" she asked, examining her soiled garments "Not my blood"

"Do I want to know how you got like that?"

"No" she said with a sweet smile, which seemed chilling under the circumstances "No, you don't"

An explosion shook the cell, making the three of them look up "I take it that means the Alliance is here!"

"Pretty much" Gabriel muttered in agreement "Where's Alana?"

------

"Drop your weapon Jedi"

He stood behind Chadaara, his long pole reached down to the small of her back, one flip of the switch and a blade could impale her. Alana slowly put her hands up, her lightsabre held in a nonthreatening matter "Only if you let her go"

"This is not a negotiation" the man stated calmly "Drop your weapon"

"Don't do it Alana" Cha whimpered "He'll just kill both of us"

"Shut your mouth" the Sith snarled, smacking her in the side of the head with his staff, sending her toppling to the ground. Alana made a move forward, only for a blaster round to impact of the decking at her feet.

"Next time it will be with the blade" the warrior growled "Put it down"

Finally she relented; dropping the lightsabre and hearing the clank as the metal hilt hit the floor and rolled a few feet away from her. She raised her hands over her head in a sign of surrender.

"Good" Lee said, before motioning to the three Shadow Guards "Cuff her, and prepare them both for transportation!"

She felt the presence then, and a smile came to her lips "Now it's your turn, surrender"

"Oh" the Sith warrior hummed "Now why would we want to do that?"

There was a screech of cracking rock and a pillar was ripped from its place and thrown across the landing area. The Sith warrior and his three Guardsmen were able to jump away from the path, but the Sith troopers and Chadaara weren't going to make it in time.

With a leap Alana flew forward, grabbed Chadaara's unconscious form and jumped back again, missing the huge stone pillar by mere millimetres. It crashed into the Sith soldiers with a series of sickening crunches. Setting the hurt Togruta on the floor she reached out with her lightsabre and silently willed it to her hand.

_Snap-hiss _

She felt the simmering heat of her lightsabre and jumped high, diving down towards the recovering Shadow Troopers. One didn't see her until it was too late and the blade plunged into his chest plate, the other two jumping away from they're dead comrade, activating crimson lightsabres in midflight.

Growling a curse in the ancient Sith language, Jaser Lee jumped to his feet to be met with two figures. One was the Jedi master, Gabriel Sabbath. The other was the Inquisitor, Robyn Vallace. The Jedi had his lightsabre in his hand, its blue blade simmering in the dim, the Inquisitor's quicksilver sword was held in her hands.

With a smirk the Sith warrior bowed mockingly, before calling his lightsabre to him and activating the blade at the end. He roared an unnatural, monstrous snarl before jumping into the air, corkscrewing in midflight and landing in the middle of the two.

------

Finally, mercifully the rebel Star Dreadnought broke away from the duel, its black hull dotted with small blooms of fire, leaving behind a huge gap in a defensive line a hairsbreadth from collapse.

Halos breathed a sigh and grinded his teeth together when a fresh set of tremors assaulted his flagship, the _Empire Dawn _had suffered heavy damage duelling with its sister ship, shields were threatening to fail, several decks were open to space and at least two of her smaller hangers had taken direct hits from the rebel super star destroyers turbolaser cannons.

As the behemoth soared through the gap she was followed by squadrons of star destroyers and star cruisers, pummelling the collapsing separatist line, then it finally happened, the line collapsed and the remaining ships began to scatter in every direction.

"We're through" he grunted "Begin the assault on the planet!!"

Dozens of small drop pods swarmed from the Star Dreadnoughts hull, each one carrying a shock squad of the Alliances newly created special forces, called Orbital Shock Troopers or OST they were gathered from the elite of the Republic Commandoes, Stormtroopers, ARC troopers and a myriad of other elite forces from across the galaxy.

Among this small swarm were several Space Marine drop pods, the warriors within waiting for their moment to strike.


	15. Sacrifice

_**Chapter 14**_

_**Sacrifice**_

The drop pods fell through the atmosphere like a swarm of meteors, entering the upper troposphere as balls of fire with tails of smoke. They punched through the thin wisps of cloud, leaving small gaps of clear air in their wake. To the defending garrison of the Sith base the mass of drop pods coming down upon them looked like the beginning of a torrential downpour of rain.

Anti-air batteries lining the mountain side opened fire upon the falling army, sending tracer rounds and missiles into the air in an attempt to stem the advance. Yet for every one pod they destroyed three made it through. Their landings were perfect, striking through the armoured rock of the base, punching through to the corridors and chambers below the surface. Their sides exploded outwards and shock squads of ARC troopers and YVH battle droids spilled out into the surrounding corridors. They were immediately met with heavy resistance as patrolling squads of Sith troopers converged on the entry points, ready to defend their lord to their last breath.

Captain Negrir Tolven forced the hatch of his drop pod open and jumped to the floor below, his E-20 blaster rifle charged and ready in his hands. Following him were the five other members of his cell, all dressed in the white battle armour of the Alliances elite ARC troopers. He could hear the muffled explosions and blaster fire from outside, telling him that several Alliance frigates had brought their main guns upon the surface defences. They should be eliminated within a few minutes.

His drop pod had crashed into a side corridor, its entry forcing a portion of the ceiling and left wall to collapse, leaving pieces of rock scattered across the corridor, perfect cover in case they were ambushed by enemy soldiers. Before he could give an order a unit of silver armoured troopers came into sight. Tolven aimed his blaster and squeezed off a few rounds, hitting one of the Sith troopers in the chest.

His unit dived into defensive positions behind pieces of collapsed ceiling, pouring blaster fire into the ranks of the surprised enemy, felling another two before they retreated around the corner and returned fire. He turned to his men and made the hand signs for grenades, two nodded and pulled out some basic fragmentation bombs, pulling the pins and throwing them towards the enemy. A series of explosions followed, further destroying the corridor.

With a nod he led his troops around the corridor, quickly dispatching any surviving Sith troopers with ease before moving on to their objective.

------

Jacen looked up as another explosion made the darkened chamber shake "Hmm, it seems that we have been found" turning to his opponent he flashed an apologetic smile "It looks like we're going to have to put this duel on hold, I have another mission that I need to accomplish"

Ishta was on a knee, her breathing coming and going as ragged breaths, her armour was torn and partially melted by his lightsabre and the blood flowing down the side of her face was partially blinding her. She forced herself to her feet, one hand hanging limply at her side, the other barely able to hold the Witchblade "I'm not finished yet!"

"Oh yes you are" he replied with a smile, he vanished in a blur then, faster than her senses could follow and landed a solid body blow to her abdomen, she doubled over in pain and was caught by him "You can barely move, killing someone who cannot defend herself does not constitute to my masters ideal of honour. I am sorry I had to beat you with such an underhanded tactic, but in war such things are necessary"

She knew exactly what he meant. The fight had slowly swept to her favour. Then he had reached into his pocket and thrown a small device into her path. One moment she was at the peak of her power, the next it was taken from her like someone had slammed a door in her face. What was that device, some kind of warp inhibitor? Truly these forcelings were well equipped, they had the ability to assemble fleets and armies, they had the technology and resources to make anti-force and warp weapons en mass.

"I had enjoyed our spar my lady" Jacen said as he turned from her "You were as strong and graceful as I believed you to be. Perhaps some time in the future our paths will cross again and we can finish this battle fairly"

Three figures appeared around him, lightsabres lit and swinging for him. In response he raised his hands and a torrent of force lightning was let loss from his fingertips, encompassing all three opponents with ease. They screamed as the lightning burned away their skin, and just as their cries became weakened croaks he lit his own lightsabre and in a simple spin took off their heads, quickly ending their suffering.

Solo looked at his would be assassins lifeless bodies "It seems he knows of my real assignment…it will do him no good"

He vanished in a blur, leaving the Farseer alone. Ishta gritted her teeth and forced herself to her feet, trying to ignore the blood spilling from several deep injuries and forming puddles on the floor. Her entire body shook as she tried to right herself, plunging her witchblade into the ground with a crack of stone tile to force her self upright.

------

The Sith warrior was put on the defensive, his lightscythe spinning and swinging to parry and block the quick strikes of an azure bladed lightsabre and a thin bladed powersword. Gabriel and Robyn continued their advance in almost perfect synchrony, when one attacked the other defended.

Yet the Sith was able to keep the two of them at bay. They were a Jedi master and an Inquisitor, both of whom had plenty of combat experience against the Yuuzhan Vong, the forces of Chaos, Tyranids and the Dark Eldar, yet they were stalemated against this one Sith warrior.

Gabriel jumped back, letting the Inquisitor take the defensive and telekinetically grabbing several small pieces of debris, helmets and pieces of crushed armour to throw at the warrior, and watched as he spun his sabre, blocking and batting away the debris with ease. He ducked a swing from Robyn and brought the butt of his pole into her abdomen, there was a crack of ribs and the Inquisitor lost her breath, and was thrown back.

Before he could finish her Gabriel jumped back into the fray, his blade impacting against the solid pole, to find his energy blade strike off it with a hail of sparks, the metal had been reinforced to take lightsabre strikes. He brought his weight into the blade, and his opponent did the same. Faces a few inches from each other, his grim determination starring against his enemies curled snarl.

He batted the lightsabre up and aimed a kick, augmented by the force into the Jedi's abdomen, sending him flying back several meters, hitting the floor hard and skidding to a halt. The Sith smirked and turned back to Robyn, crawling to the side of the hanger bay, he followed like a predator, slowly spinning his staff weapon.

Robyn seemed to barely notice, one hand holding onto her stomach, the other training to take her weight on the floor. Her breath leaving her in ragged gasps she gave up and fell onto her back, that was when she saw him, instead of looking terrified she smiled and flicked her right hand. There were pillars set across the hanger, keeping up the hundred meter high ceiling. The closest one had a dozen paper thin steel wires wrapped around it, with a flick of her fingers and a burst of her psychic power the pillars bottom and top came down with a resounding crash, it and pieces of debris coming straight for him.

He jumped and somersaulted, missing the pieces of rock and marble by millimetres and landed just as the three meter thick pillar came down upon him. Quickly he reached out with his free hand, stopping the huge column. Suddenly stressed he dropped his lightscythe and used both hands to stop the falling support, and with a push he threw it away, landing against and crushing a small black freighter with golden engravings.

Wordlessly he called his staff back to him and relit it just in time to block Gabriel as he came in swinging, forcing the Sith on the defensive again. Across the way Alana ducked under a swing and plunged her lightsabre into the last Shadow Troopers chest, exiting out his back. She forced it out and watched him fall, huffing like she had run a marathon. The bodies of the three guardsmen were at her feet.

Breathing heavily, wiping away a slight sheen of sweat from her brow, she noticed her friend moan as she regained consciousness. Chidaara sat up, favouring her head with was even now gaining a bruise from the Sith warriors abuse. In a blur Alana was beside her, a hand on her friends shoulder, making the Togruta look her in the eyes. Her dark orbs were pained but lucid.

Smiling at her friend she reached into her cloak, producing a lightsabre hilt "Ready to take the fight to them?"

Grinning the Togruta grasped the handle and came to her feet, together the two friends moved to the ongoing duel between their master, the Inquisitor and the Sith. Ready to offer any assistance needed.

------

He felt it, a huge enemy force was descending upon his base, their numbers to numerous for him to successfully count, though he guessed they were somewhere in the vicinity of between five to ten thousand soldiers and war droids. Against this force his meagre garrison of a thousand Sith troopers, three hundred Dark Eldar and twenty Shadow Troopers would be overwhelmed. Then there was what remained of his honour guard, all were dead except for six, and he had undoubtedly lost the allegiance of one of them.

There was only one solution, the fortress was destined to fall, he needed to escape. There was a private hanger, hidden behind his throne room. In that hanger was a single ship, a small yacht heavily modified with state of the art weapons, shields, and above all cloaking technology. It could fit five or six people.

Rising from his chair he summoned his surviving members of the Thirteen to follow him and walked to the back of the chamber, there he pushed on a stone block and it fell away along with several others, leaving an opening a meter and a half wide and two high. With speed he stepped through it, followed by his four surviving bodyguards.

He did not worry about the Sith troopers, the Dark Eldar and their lord, the Shadow Troopers, they were all expendable, they could be easily replaced. His worried remained with his own apprentice and leader of the Thirteen, Jaser Lee was a capable Sith warrior. When the citadel fell he would find a way to escape, or die honourably in battle.

Finally he came to the hanger. It was a small chamber, barely large enough to hold the _B-171 Blackfire-class Star Yacht_ landed in its restraints. On either side of the thirty meter long starship were walkways leading to the hatches and entry ways. They had stepped onto the portside and were walking towards the open hatch. The explosions and blasts of weapons fire could still be heard, and occasionally a blast would strike the fortress with such force that it would create tremors.

He made it three steps onto the walkway and stopped, a single figure stood between them and the yacht, and by the condensed strength he felt he knew exactly who it was "It seems that my handpicked warriors weren't up to the challenge" he stated, his four bodyguards flanking him, unlit lightsabres held in their hands "I'll just have to recruit better ones when I get back, Jacen Solo"

"You have made a fatal mistake my Lord" Solo replied, slipping out of his black cloak and drawing the black hilt of his lightsabre "By order of his Imperial majesty of the Neo-Sith Empire, and of the Council of Dark Lords you are sentenced to death"

"I am a member of the Council" Ravenus spat, his guards igniting their sabres in a flurry of crimson.

"All the more reason for you to be eliminated" the apprentice replied, igniting his own lightsabre "You are the weak point of the council, and by definition the empire. Your death can only strengthen us"

"I will not be defeated by the likes of you" the Dark Lord growled back, and with a wave of his hand sent his last four assassins into action, they flew past him and towards their opponent. Jacen looked each of them with eyes that flashed crimson and moved.

The first to come at him was August Telora, a male Zeltron who was known as a decent duellist, he dispatched him was a simple force push over the railing. Second was Wynn Stratus, a middle aged human male Dark Jedi Inferior with grey in his brown hair, he ducked the man's swing and plunged his lightsabre into his chest. Taking out the blade he spun, removing the head from the long neck of Tyn Spelle, a male Muun. Finally came Mercedes Le Chat, a human female who was known for her trickery, he parried a lightsabre strike and removed her left arm with a simple stroke, she screamed in pain before being dispatched by a stab through her chest as she came to her knees.

He came around, blocking the crimson lightsabre of the Sith lord, Darth Ravenus let his hood fall revealing the pale white skin and long black hair of a Nagai male. As a species the Nagai were famed as warriors and duellists, their race attacked and nearly overwhelmed the Galactic Empire a few months after the Battle of Endor. From what his master had told him while Ravenus was considered the weakest of the council he was still a brilliant duellist in his own right.

This was not going to be easy.

------

By the time the defenders were able to mount a successful counterattack nearly two hundred ARC troopers, three thousand Stormtroopers and three tactical squads of Space Marines had breached the outer walls of the fortress and were forcing their way to its inner depths.

But the Sith garrison showed their combat ability and skill, forming well made defensive networks to stop or at least slow down the invaders. They worked like a well oiled machine, erecting barricades, setting traps and activating interior defences such as anti-personnel laser turrets, and corridor shielding. They would set up defensive positions, fire upon enemy troops, and pull back to secondary lines with finesse and speed.

Some would lead the enemy into traps. Some would cave in important corridors to hinder their advance. Some would set up ambushes, eliminating entire units in one burst. For every foot the Coalition forces gained they lost soldiers, but they were being reinforced continuously while the Sith's numbers were dwindling. It was only a matter of time.

The only ones continuously advancing through the base were the Space Wolves, their armour, genetically enhanced physiology and state of the art weaponry protecting them from their assailants. Normal blaster fire burnt off their armour while their bolter rounds shredded the enemy into bloody pieces. They fought their way out of ambushes, advanced on enemy positions without respite and circumnavigated caved in hallways, all with the loss of three Marines. To the Sith fighting them they seemed unstoppable, walking embodiments of destruction that only the most concentrated beam cannon could penetrate.

------

Marcus growled as he released the empty magazine of his bolter and slammed in a fresh one, it was his last one, eight rounds left and three Dark Eldar warriors to use it on. He needed to finish this fight quickly, or else he would not get out of this one alive.

Gritting his teeth he rose from his crouch, aiming his pistol with his last good hand, aiming and squeezing the trigger. The first round zipped over the Darklings head, the second embedded itself in its shoulder, and the third turned its head to a bloody mess. One down, two to go, and five rounds left to do it in. He dived to the side as a thin bladed darksword spun through the air and imbedded itself where he once was. Hitting the ground hard, gritting his teeth against the pain he aimed his gun at the descending Incubi warrior, who in return was drawing a slender splinter pistol from its holster on his belt.

He squeezed off a round, the bullet going wide and leaving a crater in a half demolished pillar behind his opponent. The second round zipped past his head by millimetres. The Incubi fired its splinter pistol, shards of purplish crystal slamming all around him. Marcus didn't flinch. He aimed down the sight and fired his third round, the high explosive shell creating a huge hole through his enemy's chest.

Scrambling to his feet the Inquisition agent looked around, one enemy left, two rounds in his gun. It was possible. Slash marks all over his body. Left arm was useless thanks to a swing that nearly cleaved his limb off. Blood was flowing down his head, mind swimming from a concussion. All that was left was the Dark Eldar Archon Lord, but was he in any condition to kill him?

His answer came when the Lord appeared beside him, grabbing his wrist and twisting it sharply, breaking the bone. Marcus snarled in pain as his bolt pistol snacked off the ground at his feet. The Darkling delivered a knee to his gut, the spiked knee protector digging into his skin and piercing a kidney. Not done yet the slimmer Darkling reeled back his right knuckle and punched the agent in the face so hard he hit the ground and was seeing stars.

He tried to get on his hands and knees, but a kick to his side sent him to the ground in a heap again. The Archon was laughing, drawing his dual bladed powerswords from the sheaths on his back "So this is an Alpha-level Psyker. Take away the warp and your nothing!"

He was kicked onto his back, and a metal foot slammed into his chest, holding the weakened man down. The Archon raised his swords, tips pointed straight for his forehead "Goodbye, human"

He was thrown back by a powerful force, thrown off his query and slamming into a fallen pillar. Snarling in pain and anger he looked up, to gaze into the eyes of a demon. A boy with brownish hair, blue eyes, raising a hand encased in wrappings with holy runes etched into the fabric. By the weapon on his belt he knew exactly who it was.

A Jedi

He rose to his feet, blades held in his hands and fell into a defensive stance "Well, well, isn't this a welcome surprise. I get to kill an Inquisition agent and a Jedi knight all in the one day"

The Jedi didn't answer, but a smile came to his lips, he raised his right hand and flexed the middle and index fingers. Before the Archon could respond he saw the small black orb, his anti-warp weapon torn from his armoured suit and held in midair.

"I take this is what you use to cut off the warp?"

He made his hand into the form of a claw and closed it, the orb seemed to implode and then tear itself apart right before his eyes "I heard that you were trying to find a way to meld the warp and the force? Well I'll let you in on a secret Archon" his wrappings covering his hand came undone, falling to the floor, revealing a human hand, covered in black runes that seemed to shine with a malevolent light "Such a hybrid already exists" he added, his incisors elongating, eyes turning red as blood with feral sickle like pupils "Go to your hell knowing that"

His fingers released a blaze of demonic energy in the form of small tendrils of crimson fire. They flew at the speed of sound, encompassing the Dark Eldar and flailing him alive. Skin burned, organs liquefied, bones turned black as night. All the Archon of the Swirling Winds knew after that was pain, then silence, and finally the feminine laughter of a dark god.

------

The three Jedi surrounded the Sith warrior, lightsabres of blue and green shimmering in the dullness of the hanger bay, blocking and parrying a sabre of the deepest blood red. Every attack they made was blocked. This dark one, this Sith warrior was an elite in lightsabre combat, not a single move was wasted, not a single strike went wide.

The Sith ducked a swing from Alana. Sidestepped a downward stroke from Chadaara and rolled away from Gabriel's stab. He was still in the middle of them, and as he got to his feet he spun, hands releasing a three hundred and sixty degree force push, throwing all of his assailants away. Not wasting his moment of peace he reached up to the rafters with his free hand, grabbing a section of walkway with the force and ripping it from its restraints. He sent it flying towards his greatest danger, the Jedi master.

The man saw the flying walkway too late, but not late enough to raise his own hands and slow it down. Thus instead of it crushing him, it feel on him and trapped him beneath it, knocking him out in the process. Lee smiled, one down, three to go. The Togruta female was skilled with a lightsabre, but she was a weaker forceling than the other two. In a battle of pure ability he would be victorious. Ducking her stroke he kicked her partner away, sending the blonde human female skidding several meters across the floor and focused on the young Togruta.

Ducking her swing he spun around her, using the force to push past her meagre telekinetic defences and lifted her with a flick of his hands. She floated there, helpless as he flicked them again and threw her across the chamber, impacting against a modified bulk freighter with a painful thud.

The Inquisitor jumped back into the fray, powersword in hand, but thanks to her broken rib she was slow. He saw the human Jedi running towards him again, and with a simple exertion lifted a piece of wreckage and threw it at her. She ducked, missing it. He concentrated on another piece of wreckage and mimicked his first move, she spun to the side. He looked up to the ceiling and broke free several pieces of fractured rock, throwing them at her, all the while parrying the attempts by the injured Inquisitor to kill him.

She sidestepped two pieces of debris, but the third slammed into her shoulder, tearing the muscles and breaking the bone. She fell to the floor with a yelp of pain, holding onto her now useless shoulder. Grinning he turned his attention to the Inquisitor. He would kill her first, then the Togruta, then the blonde human. He would kill the master last, let him suffer with the knowledge he was unable to save his students.

He sidestepped a sloppy stroke, and reactivating his scythe swung it around to stab her in the chest. There was a blur, his scythe made contact. But it was not with his target. The Togruta had got in the way, she looked down at the blade plunged through her chest, back at him and smiled as blood dribbled down the corners of her lips.

His response would never be known, because the blonde was behind him, her lightsabre cut through his neck and sent his severed head flying across the hanger deck. Alana deactivated her lightsabre and saw Chadaara, fall.

"Chadaara" she screamed in panic.

The young alien fell into Robyn's waiting arms, but the weight was too much for the injured agent and the two of them fell to the floor. Alana was by her friend's side, tears in her eyes, watching as she coughed up blood.

"_Hey you"_

_She was jerked back to the real world, whatever had gotten her attention on the floor now long gone as she looked to the owner of the voice. It was an alien, a Togruta, she recalled from her masters xenology classes._

"_Me?" she asked, pointing to herself._

_The xeno smiled "Yeah you, you see anyone else?"_

"_Um"_

"_You're the new girl right" the alien asked "The one from the other galaxy?"_

"_Y-yeah"_

"_Nice to meet you" she nearly jumped when she saw the hand in front of her, looking up at the smiling girl in surprise. She was expecting to be treated like an outsider for being brought to this place so late, most of these people had known each other since they were toddlers "My name's Chadaara, Chadaara Lebruu"_

_Her mind going blank, Alana reached out with her own hand and shook the aliens hand "Alana" she replied "Alana Varne"_

"_I take it you don't know your way around?"_

_She shook her head and nearly fell flat on her face when Chadaara grabbed her hand and nearly dragged her down the corridor "Come on, I'll give you the tour!"_

"_B-but my master told me to stay"_

_The alien girl snorted "If we did everything our masters told us to do then we'd never have any fun, come on I'll show you the best ways to get to the cafeteria, and the best view in the city" she let go of Alana's hand and spun, her thumb pointing to her chest "Stick with me kid and you'll know the place like the back of your hand" she suddenly looked at her hand in interest "Hey, there's something new!"_

_Besides herself Alana laughed, her tension and uncertainty melting away with the wind. When Gabriel found her a few hours later, chatting with Chadaara excitedly he left her be, happy she had made a friend._

"Hey Ali" a hand touched her cheek, right below her eyes "What you crying for?"

"Cha" she sobbed "Hang on, we're gonna get help!" she looked to Gabriel, who was trying to get himself out from under the ruptured walkway "Master, Chadaara's been stabbed!!!"

"Are you alright?"

She looked at her friend, tears streaming down her face "Y-yeah I'm fine"

"The…Inquisitor?""

She nodded again.

"Did we…get him?"

She gripped Chadaara's outstretched hand with her own and held it tight "Yeah Cha, we got him, he's gone"

Smiling weakly Cha closed her black eyes "Good…Alana…take care of yourself…dry…dry your eyes…get up…and sm…ile"

"Chadaara" there was no answer; the hand she was gripping went limp "Chadaara!!!" she cried, tears slipping down her cheeks and dropping on her dead friends face "Cha…wake up, wake up" she threw her head back and howled her anguish to the world.

Robyn put her arms around the grieving girl, and let her cry onto her bloodied shirt. When Gabriel arrived he looked at his dead apprentice, and his head fell. It was then that the second wave of drop pods fell from the sky.

------

Jacen Solo looked up at the sky, watching neutrally as the second wave of drop pods fell towards the base. He sighed and turned to the dead body, leaning against a railing a few meters away from him.

"You fool" he whispered "The Empire is better off without your weakness"

He looked down at the vanquished man's lightsabre, admiring the golden handle and engraved runes. He was supposed to kill this Darth Ravenus and bring back his lightsabre as proof he had completed his mission. A fool Ravenus was, but he was still Sith, and Sith never surrendered their lightsabre.

Jacen passed by the body towards the landing ramp of the small armoured yacht. If his Intel was correct it had the newest state of the art cloaking equipment. He could sneak past this invading fleet undetected, report the loss of the outpost to his master and pass on the lightsabre.

The weakness had been cut out.

His mission was done.

* * *

**And so this small side story is coming to an end, I hope you guys have enjoyed it and I am happy that I am about to finish it. Next up is the Epilogue.**


	16. Epilogue

_**Chapter 15**_

_**Epilogue**_

Once word of they're leader's demise reached they're ears the surviving soldiers defending the citadel were thought to have thrown weapons down and surrendered. They did not. Instead the Alliance assault forces found themselves in heavy fire fights and skirmishes throughout the base, bodies of both sides littered the corridors and chambers.

The Sith fought to the last man, and when the full one thousand two hundred soldiers of the garrison were finally killed off they had taken nearly nine hundred Alliance soldiers, fifty Stormtroopers and two Space Marines with them. Ten hours after the beginning of the ground campaign the base was reported as secure.

And even after that is took another two hours of searches before he and his advisors were allowed to board a shuttle and ferry down towards the planet. The gunship came through the open double hanger doors and came to a landing in the centre of a wrecked landscape. Several starships had been damaged through heavy weapons fire, explosions and shrapnel. Bodies of Sith troopers and Alliance soldiers alike where scattered across the bay, medics and soldiers rushing around them, checking pulses and bagging those who were already dead.

Joseph Halos looked across the bay and shook his head as he walked across the charred landscape, his advisors and a squad of crack Stormtroopers in tow. The battle had been fiercer than he thought, the Sith warriors were determined to take as many of his soldiers with them in death, and they took quite a few.

A man, dressed in the attire of a Stormtrooper commando marched up towards him, his helm under his arm and his blaster holstered at his side. He stopped, and saluted "Grand Admiral, I am Jordan Basset, Imperial Stormtrooper Commando on extension with the 95th Imperial Stormtrooper Legion"

Halos returned the salute, and looked around "Commando, what is the situation?"

"The enemy fought to the last man" the Commando replied, leading him down the carbon scored corridors, ignoring the smears of blood across the walls and pooling on the floor "And they tried to take as many of our boys down as they could. They set traps, set cross fires; there are even reports of soldiers strapping bombs to them and charging into ranks of Alliance troops. Anyone we tried to capture either blew themselves up with grenades or committed suicide with their weapons"

"Just what we need" Halos growled "Fanatics, my least favourite enemy"

"Amen sir"

"What of the Inquisition and Jedi contingents?"

"All of them are suffering from injuries and are being treated in a makeshift first aide centre" the Commando replied "One of the Jedi has been killed in action, the bodies of another three had been found in the laboratories and another has a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. Most of the others have between minor to serious injuries"

"Which was killed?"

"Jedi Knight Chadaara Ji"

Joseph shook his head sadly, one of Gabriel's lot, he would probably be taking the news hard "And the one with a fifty-fifty chance?"

"Jaina Solo sir. She is in intensive care, and her parents are by her side"

"I see" Gabriel replied, massaging his temple "I will visit the survivors myself and try and gain their stories first hand, the rest of you continue on"

The Commando nodded, and gave him directions to the medical chamber, flanked by two senior Stormtroopers. When he arrived he saw that the chamber might have once been a throne room, or a large meeting hall. The large area was now covered with stretchers, all holding a wounded soldier. Screams of pain filled the air. Antiseptic and spilled blood assaulted his nostrils. Medics were carrying those able to be moved through the entrances towards landing bays where gunships were waiting to ferry them to the Medical Frigates in orbit.

He was led through the lines of beds by a young intern, through a set of doors to a side corridor leading to former living quarters that have been restructured into amphitheatres, surgeries and rooms to place those to badly injured for the main chamber outside. Finally he reached a former large bedroom.

Jaina Solo had apparently left surgery, and was in one of the six beds in the room, hooked up to a respirator until a bacta tank became available, the continuous beep of the machine and the rising and falling of her chest the only signs of life, her family by her bedside, looking on worriedly.

He spotted Alana on the next bed, and by the redness of her eyes it was obvious that she had been crying. At her bedside were Gabriel and a heavenly bandaged Ishta, her arm in a sling. Gabriel holding onto her hand as a medical droid was checking her shattered shoulder blade, another which was in serious need of a bacta tank.

The Inquisitors two surviving agents were in the other two beds, heavily bandaged and in a sedative induced sleep while a couple of medics from the Space Wolves looked them over. The woman's looked like she had been tortured with knives and electric devices, and he considered it may be several months before she was fully combat ready again. The male had obviously suffered from several slash wounds and poisoned barbs of splinter weapons, but he was stable.

And when he saw the person in the next bed his heart jumped into his throat, his relief was evident on his face for a split second before his political mask took over again. Robyn lay on the far bed, propped up by pillows, finishing giving her report to her superiors at Terra via a video link. Deciding to go to her later he turned to Gabriel and Ishta first.

Gabriel rose to his feet upon seeing his old friend, wincing from his cracked ribs "Joseph, been a while"

"Indeed it has my friend" Halos replied before turning to his two guards and sending them away with a wave of his hand. They left and took up positions at the other side of the door "I heard you lost a pupil, I'm sorry to hear that"

"Thank you, she will be missed" he replied, Ishta putting a hand on his shoulder, to which he placed his over hers and gave an affectionate squeeze.

"How are you holding up Ishta?"

"I will live Grand Admiral" she replied with a bow "Thank you for your concern, but thanks to my failure I am unworthy of it"

"Failure"

"She fought Jacen Solo by herself" Gabriel explained as Ishta returned to Alana's side, holding onto the youngsters hand as she winced through the medical droids examinations "And was beaten badly"

"I see" Joseph replied with a sigh "Looks like the high command can no longer afford to have him listed as missing in action"

"I have already talked to the Solo's about this" the Jedi nodded "They have…given their consent to put him on the renegades list"

The Grand Admiral nodded. The Renegades list was a list of Jedi who had left the order and had evidence against them that proved they were involved in shady activities. To date there were five forclings on the list, six now that Jacen Solo had been entered.

The Jedi master looked over to Robyn, who had finished her report and fell into her bed with a despondent sigh of irritation. Her hand reached up to rub her eyes "You should go to her. She needs someone to talk too"

He looked at Gabriel in surprise, only for the Jedi master to offer a sad smile before returning to his wife and surviving pupil's side. Panic took over the Admiral for a moment, but for just a moment as he remembered who it was that found out. It was Gabriel, the two were close friends and he knew well that the Jedi master would not be reporting his findings to anyone.

He turned and walked past the Solo's, offering words of comfort and optimism to them which they took with smiles and nods, before arriving at Robyn's bed and closing the curtain, giving them a measure of privacy "Inquisitor, a moment?"

She looked up, smiled sadly and nodded. He took a seat and the two were silent, each starring into the others eyes.

------

It was another week until the Jedi were able to return to Ossus for the burials of four of their own, and in that time much had happened, some for the better, others for the worst.

The burial was done with full rites, the bodies placed on their funeral pyres and cremated. The entire Jedi order had assembled for this ceremony, New and Resurrected alike. For the deaths of these four young knights made a very clear message strike home. The Sith had returned, and they were planning something.

Alana walked down the corridor. Her head hung low, mind wandering a million miles a minute. Chadaara had been her best friend, her confidante, over the last few years they had done almost everything together. Anakin had joked that they were inseparable. Now she was gone.

There was a bittersweet consolation in that she had killed the bastard who killed her best friend. But it was a sour comfort, for at the end of the day her best friend was gone, and she was never coming back.

Gabriel and Ishta were both worried about her. They had stayed by her side the whole trip back to Ossus as she sat beside her friend's body. She had to admit that without them she would have probably gone mad. A Jedi was not supposed to feel such feelings of lose and regret, but Gabriel had told her that the law was outdated, and whether the writer believed it or not she was still human, and she needed to grieve.

Entering her room, locking the door behind her she fell into her bed, burying her head against her pillow and cried softly. She needed to get this out of her system, she needed to get over her friends death. She was a Jedi Emperor damn it, she needed to be ready for anything. Death was not a stranger to her. She had lost her father and mother to the Dark Eldar scourge, hell she had even witnessed her own mother being murdered in front of her.

But that seemed like a lifetime ago, and she had almost forgotten about the pain.

"_Come on girl, what are you lying there for?"_

She stopped, swearing she could hear her friend's voice, before shaking her head. She must have been going crazy.

"_Didn't I tell you not to cry?"_

She definitely heard that one, turning in her bed her eyes met with Chadaara, it was her. She squeaked, jumping in surprise, watching as the Togruta herself jumped back, and then she began to giggle. It was her friend, but her form seemed to be emitting a soft glow.

"I thought you were dead" she whispered, reaching out to touch her and finding to her surprise that her hand went straight through.

"I am" her friend shrugged "But the powers that be have given me one wish, and I decided to come and visit you"

She had heard of this, a deceased Jedi coming back from the grave to communicate with someone, she had heard of such encounters when she was studying under Gabriel, but had dismissed them at the time as silly superstition.

At her look Cha frowned _"Don't tell me you were sleeping through Gabriel's lecture on force ghosts?"_

"I thought they were just superstition" she replied dumbly "You aren't staying are you?"

She shook her head with a sad smile _"I'm sorry Ally, but it's out of my hands now. I have become one with the force"_

"So there is an afterlife, without Chaos?" she asked.

"_Oh yeah"_

"What's it like?"

Her friend grinned mischievously _"You'll find out yourself one day"_

Both giggled before falling silent "I'll miss you Cha"

"_Me too Ally, I'll miss you. But remember this, I will be watching over you, just because you can't see me doesn't mean that I'm not there" _her friend replied _"Consider me your guardian angel or some insane stuff like that. Oh and I was meant to tell you one more thing"_

"What's that?"

"_Stand up, live your life as long and as well as you can. Find a boy you love, get married, have a swarm of kids, and die of old age with your family and friends surrounding you" _she smiled warmly _"That is my wish for you Ally. After everything you've gone through you deserve a happy ending. And when it's all over, I'll be there to collect you"_

"Promise"

She nodded _"But only if you do what I just said, if you don't then I'll be giving you a lecture" _she hesitated for a moment, then a small smile spread across her face _"There will be choices, life altering choices which will change your world…one is coming right now, I suggest you say yes to it"_

She looked to the door "What choices?" she asked, turning to see that her friend wasn't there anymore. She rubbed her eyes, and then there was a knock. Getting up she walked across the room and opened the door to see Robyn standing in the archway.

"It was a beautiful ceremony" the Inquisitor said as Alana invited her into her room "How are you holding up?"

"I think I need a little time" she replied, plopping down on her bed "So when are you heading back to Terra?"

"Early tomorrow" the Inquisitor replied, pulling out a desk chair and taking a seat "I need to make arrangements with the Adeptus Sororitas to retrieve Michelle's body"

"How are Lara and Marcus?"

"Both recovering thank the Emperor" Vallace replied "Looks like we all went in and came out worse for ware" she hesitated for a moment, before her figure seemed to deflate "I never thought I would be saved by an alien, ever"

"Cha was a true Jedi till the end" Alana replied with a smile, remembering her friend's memory and the conversation they had a few moments ago "For as long as I have known her she had always been selfless, courageous and self sacrificing"

Robyn leaned back in her chair, looking at the setting sun "You know, before we made contact with the Alliance I always thought aliens were evil creatures created for the sole purpose of destroying the Imperium and all it stood for. Then we met the Alliance, and saw aliens and humans cooperating, eating together, living together, and fighting together. To many of us, even the most open minded the experience seemed to surreal"

"I'm from the same galaxy you were" Alana replied "When I first set foot on that Star Destroyer, I thought I was going mad. The first person I met on that ship was a Zeltron woman who gave me a guided tour. I think she was a technician or something like that. It was surreal, but eventually I came to accept it"

"But you were a child" the Inquisitor pointed out "It's always easier for a child to accept new ways than an adult"

"You might be right" she conceded "But the experience was surreal to me all the same"

The two descended into a comfortable silence, after a moment Robyn finally spoke up "I have a proposition for you Alana"

"Oh?"

"Before this mess the Jedi and the Inquisition were in talks about an exchange program" the Inquisitor explained "Placing a Jedi in an Inquisitors team and vice versa. I have already talked it over with the Grand Master, and I want to put it by you"

Chadaara words screamed into her mind, and Alana, slightly bewildered nodded for her to continue "I was wondering if you wanted to take part in the program, serve under me for a few months. Get to see the galaxy from a different viewpoint"

"I would like that" Varne replied, deciding to heed her friends advice "I think that is just what I need at the moment" she hesitated for a moment "I'll have to put it past Gabriel though, the mans like a father to me"

Robyn nodded "Of course, and I need to tell the Grand Master about your decision"

"Do I have to leave straight away?"

Robyn shook her head "No, I'll give you two weeks to do what you got to do, then I'll come back to collect you"

As Robyn said her goodbyes and left, Alana undressed into her nightgown and slipped into bed, asleep before her head hit the pillow. The air grew light, and Chadaara reappeared, sitting on the same chair the Inquisitor had a few moments earlier, watching her best friend with a smile _"Good girl"_

_The End_

* * *

_**Corny I know, but what is a Jedi tail without a force ghost or two? So it has finally come to an end, thank you everyone who have waited and read this story.**_

_**Merry Christmas!!!**_

_**Darth Malleus**_


End file.
